Chuck Lofgren struck out nine hitters, just one off his career-high, and the Aeros never trailed in a 6-2 victory over Erie before 3,989 young fans on Education Day Thursday. Akron improved to 11-14 with its fourth win in five games, while the SeaWolves dropped to 14-12.

Lofgren set the Wolves down in order to open the game, and the Aeros promptly got him some run support in the bottom of the inning. Josh Rodriguez reached on an error with one away, and Michael Aubrey followed with a double to the base of the wall in right field to put runners at second and third. Erie left-hander Danny Christiansen came back to strike out Matt Whitney for the second out, but Wes Hodges muscled a broken-bat blooper down the right field line to score both runners and give Akron a quick 2-0 lead.

Jose Constanza tripled home Brandon Chaves in the second to make it 3-0, and from there Lofgren simply took over. After picking up three strikeouts in the first three innings, the big left-hander whiffed a pair of hitters in both the fourth and fifth frames to get to seven on the afternoon. Number eight came at the expense of Erie’s Jeff Frazier in the sixth, and after surrendering an RBI single to Caonabo Cosme Lofgren ended the inning in style with a four-pitch punch-out of Deik Scram.

Akron got that run right back in the bottom of the sixth on Aubrey’s two-out RBI flare to center to make it 4-1, and the Aeros then added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Constanza made it 5-1 with a hustling RBI double to score Armando Camacaro, and Rodriguez then grounded an RBI single up the middle for a 6-1 advantage. Erie made thing interesting in the ninth, scoring a run and getting the tying run to the plate, but Dusty Ryan bounced into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

Lofgren (1-2) turned in easily his best outing of the year, holding the SeaWolves to a run on six hits in six innings for his first win of the season. He allowed three walks, and his nine strikeouts were the most since he fanned 10 Lynchburg Hillcats on August 3rd, 2006 while pitching for Class-A Advanced Kinston. Christiansen (0-3) allowed four runs (two earned) and seven hits in 5.2 innings while suffering the loss. Sung-Wei Tseng retired the first seven men he faced out of the bullpen before running into trouble in the ninth, but closer Randy Newsom was there lock down his sixth save in as many opportunities.

The Aeros will hit the road this weekend, playing four games in three days in Bowie. The clubs will first complete a suspended game from April 20th and play it to its full, nine-inning conclusion before playing a seven-inning game. The suspended game will resume at 6:05 p.m. and will be picked up in the top of the third with one on, one out, and Nathan Panther at the plate with Akron leading 5-1. Aeros lefty David Huff (0-1, 2.84 ERA) will pitch in the suspended game for Akron, and David Hernandez (1-0, 2.52 ERA) is expected to pitch game one for Bowie. The game broadcast begins at 5:50 p.m. on SportsRadio 1350 AM and online at www.akronaeros.com. For more information, please call the Aeros at (330) 253-5151.