The Erie SeaWolves came up short in their quest for a third-straight Eastern League Championship on Wednesday night, losing to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, 8-2, in a deciding third game at home.
Binghamton
out-pitched Erie all night. Andrew Sears was just a hair too sloppy and perhaps stretched too thin, but the three surrendered runs didn’t doom his squad. No, that was an ugly performance at the top of the order from the biggest stars in Detroit’s farm system.
Josue Briceno, Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle went a combined 0-for-14 with eight strikeouts. While these guys deserve a ton of credit for what they accomplished during the season, it’s going to sting this offseason knowing they didn’t have their best games when it mattered most.
Still, there’s little for the SeaWolves to hang their heads about. Erie’s 84 wins were tied for the most in SeaWolves’ history, and they won both halves of the season with different groups.
Binghamton draws first blood
Binghamton jumped out to an early lead, striking for two in the top of the first after a rain-delayed start. Twenty-three-year-old lefty Andrew Sears took a comebacker off his legs on the very first pitch of the game. Manager Andrew Graham and the Erie athletic trainer, Bryce Hietpas, came out to check on him, but there was no way Sears was coming out.
Josue Briceno let a ball get by him to advance the runner, but Sears struck out the next two batters — both on the sinker. Unfortunately, D’Andre Smith got the at-bat quick to sneak one by Kevin McGonigle and into left field. Chris Suero did the same thing, hitting it just out of reach of McGonigle’s backhand attempt, bringing it to 2-0 early.
Suero got picked off to end the half inning, but the damage was done. It’s difficult to play from behind right out of the gate.
Wenninger; more like WINninger
New York’s sixth-round pick from 2023, Jack Wenninger, was lights out the first time through Erie’s lineup. Wenninger only allowed one baserunner through the first three innings, a Thayron Liranzo walk that did no damage in the second. (Honestly, he got a very close call on a checked swing, so he probably shouldn’t have even been on base.)
Wenninger was amped up, running his fastball hot from its typical 95 mph range. Most of them clocked 96-98 mph on the stadium gun. Just when batters adjusted to the speed, he mixed in a devastating splitter that forced some ugly swings. He finished the day with 10 strikeouts, seven of which came the first time through.
Max Clark and John Peck finally got something going with two outs in the third. Clark reached on an error, and Peck singled up the middle, setting up a first-and-third situation for Kevin McGonigle. Detroit’s top prospect couldn’t deliver, as he struck out for the second time in as many plate appearances.
Brand new ball game
Those cracks in the armor led to runs in the fourth, however. Jake Holton started the rally with a one-out walk, and Liranzo doubled into the right field corner. Malgeri snuck one by the shortstop to score both runners. Liranzo beat the throw fairly easily, and the ball got away to put the go-ahead runner on second.
Malgeri didn’t score, and Wenninger returned to form in the fifth. McGonigle went down on strikes for the third time — what a tough way to end the season for him.
Sears settles in
Sears ran into a little more trouble in the second — two men reached scoring position before a groundout kept them from scoring — but he retired nine of the next 10 batters after that. By the third, he was running his fastball up to 96 and still blowing 93 by some batters.
Graham left Sears in an inning too long, though. Jacob Reimer gave the Rumble Ponies the lead once again with a towering opposite-field home run. Graham came out with the hook, and in came Trevin Michael. Another mistake.
Smith and Suero struck again, this time in the form of a two-run bomb. That tie game all of a sudden turned into a three-run deficit.
Top of the order woes bury Erie
A mound visit helped Michael reset, and he retired the next five batters he faced, including striking out the side in the seventh.
It’s not fair to put all the pressure on the organization’s top three prospects, but Briceno, Clark and McGonigle going a combined 0-for-12 hurt in this one. Of the group, only McGonigle had a big postseason, but even he was nowhere to be found in this one, putting up probably his worst game of the season when it mattered most.
The SeaWolves had a chance to get back into the game after Michael struck out the side, but Clark, John Peck and McGonigle went down in order with men on first and third. Briceno didn’t get a chance to make some noise that time, but he struck out thrice just the same as McGonigle.
Michael got the first two outs of the eighth quickly, but back-to-back singles brought in Eric Silva from the bullpen. He got a key strikeout to end the inning and stop Binghamton from scoring, extending the lead.
There’s the dagger
Graham probably should have left Silva in instead of turning to Richard Guasch. Consecutive hits to open the ninth all but guaranteed a run, which scored on a fielder’s choice shortly after. Guasch intentionally walked Reimer, who hit a home run earlier, hoping for a force play at home. Instead, Smith notched his third hit of the game for RBIs No. 2 and 3 on the day.
Suero hit a sac fly to make it 8-2, and the fat lady started her vocal warmups in the clubhouse.
Malgeri made it interesting with a double — his third hit of the day — but that was it for the SeaWolves in 2025.
Max Clark struck out swinging to end it.
Liranzo: 2-3, R, 2 2B, BB
Malgeri: 3-4, 2 RBI, 2B, K
Sears (L, 1-1): 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, BB, 6 K
Thanks to everyone who followed along throughout the minor league season. Kevin McGonigle will be heading out to the Arizona Fall League along with the rest of the Tigers selections, and it will be interesting to focus in on him in October and see what the club has him working on in the desert. Beyond that there is a ton of work to do to review individual seasons from the Tigers prospects in preparation for the next edition of our full system prospect rankings and reports early in 2026.
