The Sens look to rebound after last night’s tough loss that saw the Sens blow a 9th leading. The Sens still own a 2-1 series lead and can guarantee themselves of at least a split with a win this evening. The Sens have fallen to 4 games back of Erie in the Southwest Divison standings. Portland remains 1.5 games behind Reading in the Northeast Division.

The Senators hand the ball to Josh Randall to get back on track after a rough few outings. Randall has lost 3 of his last 5 starts so he is due for a big game and what better time to start. In July Randall has thrown 19 innings and has allowed 17 runs on 21 hits, 7 home runs, 7 walks and 23 strikeouts. Randall is too talented not to get back on track but the Eastern League is really loaded with good offenses.

Portland will counter with Anthony Eyanson. Eyanson is the Boston Red Sox # 2 overall prospect and the # 49th overall prospect in all baseball. The Red Sox drafted him in the 3rd round, 87th overall in last year’s MLB Draft. He has been fantastic this season. In 15 total games in A+ and AA he’s 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA, throwing 63 2/3 innings and striking out 84. He has won 2 of his last 3 starts. Eyanson will be a challenge match up for the Sens.

Sens and Sea Dogs. Friday Night Baseball in Portland. The lineups have been posted and are below. First pitch coming up at 6:00 o’clock.

Harrisburg Senators Lineup: 1. Sam Petersen CF 2. Cortland Lawson SS 3. Branden Boissiere 1B 4. Kervin Pichardo 2B 5. Ethan Petry DH 6. Caleb Lomavita C 7. Sam Brown LF 8. TJ White RF 9. Devin Ortiz 3B

Portland Sea Dogs Lineup: 1. Tyler McDonough 2B 2. 2 Jack Winnay 3B 3. Brooks Brannon 1B 4. Ronald Rosario C 5. Nate Baez DH 6. Will Turner DH 7. Max Ferguson LF 8. Ahbram Liendo SS 9. Nelly Taylor RF

Last night’s game started out about as well as you could ask for if you’re the Senators. The first three batters all reached base and by the time the third batter came to the plate the Sens were leading 2-0. Couldn’t have asked for a better start. Alex Clemmey was rolling through 2 and looked good. A damp, overcast, misty night picked up a bit and then came the dark cloud of a third inning. Three straight singles to open up the third and before the Sens could blink their lead was cut in half. Clemmey managed to get an out and then walked his last batter to load the bases. Skipper Delino DeShields came to get Clemmey and his decision paid off. Connor Van Scoyoc was able to retire the next 2 batters and get out of the jam with a lead. Sens got one back in the 4th on a sac fly from Branden Boissiere scoring Sam Petersen. Ahbram Liendo and Tyler McDonough would homer in consecutive innings to put the home team even with the Sens. The Sens answered every call and every punch back by Portland and Sam Petersen drove in TJ White in the 6th to retake the lead 4-3. Sandy Gaston would come on in the 9th to attempt to close the door. The Sens never recorded an out. A walk, a single, a huge mistake by pitcher Gaston on a pick off attempt at second where no Senators player was even within the vicinity and before the Sens could breathe the game was tied. Runners at 2nd and 3rd nobody out. The next pitch was a seeing eye single by Ahbram Liendo and the Sens were walked off 5-4

On Deck…

The Harrisburg Senators and Portland Sea Dogs will play Game 5 of 6 Saturday night at 6:00 o’clock. The Sens will give the ball to Yoel Tejeda Jr, who will be making his second AA start for the Sens. Tejeda pitched well in his first outing and will continue to get acclimated to the step up in competition. Despite taking the loss Yoel only allowed 3 runs in 5 hits in the outing. All 3 runs came on one swing off of the bat of Bryan Rincon. The Sea Dogs have not announced starters for the remainder of the weekend after Friday night’s game. First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 6:00 PM