Harrisburg Senators (20-13) at Erie SeaWolves (15-18)
Today-Saturday, 6:35 p.m.
Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
-- Pitching matchups
Today: Erie RH Ben Fritz (1-0, 3.86) vs. Harrisburg RH Marco Estrada (3-2, 3.19)
Saturday: Erie LH Lucas French (2-2, 4.46) vs. Harrisburg LH Cory VanAllen (1-0, 1.59)
Sunday: Erie LH Jon Connolly (0-1, 4.50) vs. Harrisburg RH Jordan Zimmermann (0-1, 1.59)
-- Harrisburg notes: The Southern Division-leading Senators are riding a three-game losing streak, their longest of the season. … Harrisburg is 9-5 on the road. … The Senators finished April with a 16-9 record their best month since going 16-9 in June 2006. … Harrisburg is 10-0 in series' openers this season. … Outfielders Justin Maxwell and Roger Bernadina are on the Washington Nationals' 40-man roster. … Maxwell, a 6-foot 5-inch, 245-pound center fielder, was the Nationals' 2007 minor league player of the year after hitting a combined .281 with 27 homers, 25 doubles, 83 RBIs and 35 steals for Single-A Hagerstown and Single-A Potomac last season. That earned him a September call-up to the Nationals. He played in 15 major league games, and his first big league hit was a pinch-hit grand slam. Last season, Maxwell was the only player in the minors to record at least 25 doubles, 25 homers and 25 stolen bases. … VanAllen was promoted to the Senators on May 2 from Potomac and won his Double-A debut on Monday in a 5-2 win over the Connecticut Defenders. VanAllen gave up one run and four hits over 5 2/3 innings and tripled in his first professional at-bat. … Right-hander Zimmermann made his Double-A debut against Connecticut on Tuesday and took loss in a 5-2 decision to Connecticut. Zimmermann gave up three runs (one earned) and four hits in 52/3 innings with four strikeouts and three walks. Zimmermann was promoted to Harrisburg on Monday from Potomac. Zimmermann attended NCAA Division III Wisconsin-Stevens Point for three years and was Washington's second-round draft pick last season.
-- Erie notes: The Trenton Thunder completed a four-game sweep of the SeaWolves on Thursday at Jerry Uht Park, dropping Erie to 1-6 against Northern Division opponents this season. … Thursday's 7-2 loss to Trenton dropped the SeaWolves to 5-9 at home. … Erie is 14-12 against Southern Division opponents. … The SeaWolves host the Senators for the first time this season after splitting their previous six games against Harrisburg in a pair of three-game series at Harrisburg's Commerce Bank Park. Erie lost two of three games against Harrisburg from April 7-9 and won two of three games from April 21-23. … Erie enters this series tied with Akron for fourth place in the Southern Division standings, five games behind first-place Harrisburg. … Outfielder Deik Scram had a nine-game hitting streak end in Thursday's loss. … The SeaWolves on Thursday still were awaiting word on right-handed closer Brett Jensen's MRI results. Jensen was placed on the disabled list on Wednesday for the second time this season due to right elbow soreness. … Connolly was assigned to Erie on Monday after making four starts for Triple-A Toledo. He started Monday's game against Trenton and gave up five earned runs and 13 hits over six innings in a 9-5 loss. … The three-game series against Harrisburg completes a seven-game homestand. … Erie will have its second scheduled day off of the season on Monday, then begin a six-game road trip Tuesday with the opener of a three-game series at Bowie.
-- Ron Leonardi