The Chesapeake Baysox saw a three-run rally fall just short Thursday night, dropping an 8-7 decision to the Erie SeaWolves at Prince George’s Stadium in a game that capped a wild finish after Erie tacked on late insurance runs.
Down 8-5 entering the bottom of the ninth, Chesapeake (14-9 in the second half) got as close as one run when Frederick Bencosme homered to right field, scoring Aron Estrada to make it 8-7 with no outs. Brandon Butterworth and Anderson De Los Santos followed with a single and a walk, putting the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base, but Erie right-hander Eric Silva retired the next three Baysox in order to close out the win and secure his first save of the series.
The loss came a night after Chesapeake used a six-run rally to beat the SeaWolves 7-3 on the strength of a two-homer game from Tavian Josenberger, and two nights after an 11-inning, 7-6 walk-off win in the series opener — a stretch that had put the Baysox, the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, in position to sweep the six-game set against Erie, Detroit’s Double-A affiliate, before Thursday’s late-inning collapse.
Chesapeake got on the board first Thursday, plating two runs in the opening inning. Butterworth opened the scoring with his eighth home run of the season, a two-out shot the opposite way to right field, extending a hot stretch that has seen him hit safely in eight straight games and homer in four of the Baysox’s last four contests. Butterworth, who was activated by the Baysox on July 7, has hit well over .300 with multiple home runs in the weeks since returning to the lineup. Anderson De Los Santos followed with a single, and Griff O’Farrell drove him in with an RBI single to make it 2-0.
Erie answered with a four-run third inning against Chesapeake left-hander Sebastian Gongora. After Gongora recorded the first two outs of the frame, three straight SeaWolves reached base, the last of whom, Garrett Pennington, hit a three-run homer to put Erie ahead 4-2.
The SeaWolves added to the lead in the fifth, opening the frame with two singles and a walk against Gongora before a Justice Bigbie RBI single made it 5-2. Gongora was pulled in favor of right-hander Gerald Ogando, who allowed Bigbie — who finished 3-for-5 with two RBI — to score on an E.J. Exposito single, charged to Gongora (L, 8-5) and pushing Erie’s lead to 6-2. SeaWolves right-hander Kenny Serwa (W, 5-7) settled in from there, throwing five innings and allowing no runs after the first.
Chesapeake chipped away in the sixth, cutting the deficit to 6-4. Doug Hodo reached on a two-out error and later scored on an Adam Retzbach RBI double. Ogando and left-hander Micah Ashman combined to hold Erie’s lead through three scoreless innings for the Baysox, with Ashman working around a baserunner across the sixth and seventh.
Right-hander Jeisson Cabrera kept Chesapeake within striking distance with a scoreless eighth, and the Baysox cut the lead in half again on another Retzbach RBI double, this one scoring Tavian Josenberger to make it 6-5.
Erie regained control with two runs in the top of the ninth, aided by a Chesapeake throwing error that let Seth Stephenson score from third, followed by an Andrew Jenkins sacrifice fly that pushed the SeaWolves’ lead to 8-5 ahead of Chesapeake’s ninth-inning rally.
The result splits the first three games of the six-game series at Prince George’s Stadium. Chesapeake continues the series Friday, sending left-hander Joseph Dzierwa (2-1, 2.54 ERA) to the mound against Erie right-hander Hayden Minton (0-0, 2.29 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie.
The Baysox, one of 12 teams in Minor League Baseball’s Double-A Eastern League, have played at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie since 1994 and serve as the top farm club feeding talent toward the Orioles’ major league roster in Baltimore. The team rebranded from the Bowie Baysox to the Chesapeake Baysox ahead of the 2025 season as part of a regional identity shift.
Single-game tickets, ticket plans and group offers for the 2026 Baysox season remain on sale through Baysox.com or by calling 301-805-6000.
