Erie Times-News concludes 25 for '25 series with top games/news

A dramatic overtime victory that clinched Cathedral Prep’s first PIAA football title and ended its opponent’s state-record winning streak.

That was an Erie County sports highlight from 2000.

A record crowd of 7,070 that stuffed UPMC Park to watch the reigning Eastern League champion Erie SeaWolves — pardon — Erie Moon Mammoths, and the in-person antics of the HBO personality who temporarily renamed them.

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That stood out in 2025.

In between the 21st century’s first quarter were other notable moments of individuals and teams at various levels of Erie County athletics.

It’s one the Erie Times-News, with grateful help from readers, sought to commemorate with 25 at '25. Work on the project, which began in late July, will come to fruition between now and the holidays.

The Times-News sports department compiled top-25 lists for the following categories.

• Top 25 male athletes

• Top 25 female athletes

• Top 25 male teams

• Top 25 female teams

• Top 25 male coaches

• Top 25 female coaches

• Top 25 athletic events

Each list, in chronological or alphabetical order, were all-inclusive. The only stipulation for nominations was that all or most of the accomplishments must have occurred since 2000.

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The Times-News sports department rendered verdicts in such scenarios.

The 25 for '25 series concludes with its list of the top games or news. They are:

December 9, 2000

PIAA Class 4A football final

The state’s large-school championship game between nationally ranked Cathedral Prep and Central Bucks West didn’t live up to its valid hype.

It was better.

CB West, highlighted by a blocked punt with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter, held on for a 14-13 victory over the Ramblers in their 1999 state 4A final. It was the 45^th straight win for the Bucks, who also claimed their third consecutive title.

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Their rematch was held a year later before more than 10,000 fans at Hersheypark Stadium.

The teams traded big-play touchdowns during regulation, the last being a CB West score with less than two minutes left that made it 35-all.

What followed was only the third overtime game since the PIAA’s original 1988 PIAA finals.

Prep denied the Bucks a touchdown for their possession. The Ramblers also denied any points when Dale Williams blocked CB West’s field goal attempt.

That set up the most famous four-yard touchdown run in Prep’s century-plus of football. Jawan Walker, on a third-down handoff, ended the game and CB West’s record winning streak at 59 games.

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It was the first of the Ramblers’ five state titles for that sport. Each were with Mike Mischler, a 1987 graduate, as their coach.

November 17, 2001

PIAA Class 3A boys soccer final

No District 10 soccer team was crowned a PIAA champion between 1973, its first year of postseason play, and the end of the 20^th century.

The 2001 Cathedral Prep Ramblers finally ended that drought.

Sort of.

Prep, coached by Nenad Vidakovic, and Strath Haven reached that season’s 3A championship match at Hersheypark Stadium. It was the Ramblers’ second such appearance, following a loss to Coughlin in the state’s 1997 large-school final.

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That match went to overtime, as did the one four years later between the Ramblers and the Panthers.

The difference? The latter one ended with no resolution.

The current PIAA rule dictates that soccer’s shootout format be used to determine a winner at the completion of overtime periods for a title match.

However, that wasn’t listed in its rule book 24 years ago. Thus, the reason Prep and Strath Haven, who were 1-all at that point, were declared co-victors for that match.

Geoff Meyer scored the lone goal for the 2001 Ramblers, whose roster included Jeff Hamley.

Prep’s former defender currently caddies for 2025 PGA Tour winner Andrew Novak.

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May 10, 2002

Game five, Ontario Hockey League final

Some Erie Otters’ fans were likely glad that Barrie defeated their team in the fourth game of that season’s Robertson Cup championship series.

Although the Colts’ 5-2 home win denied Erie a best-of-seven sweep, it also provided them with two potential chances to witness the title-clincher in person at the formerly named Tullio Arena.

The Otters only needed one, albeit with overtime required.

A raucous Erie crowd of 5,591 turned out for the series’ fifth game, which was 1-all after regulation.

The drama turned to delirium 14 minutes, 14 seconds into the extra period. Erie’s Sean Courtney, off a pass from Chris Berti, converted a slapshot that eluded Barrie goaltender David Chant.

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Courtney’s goal clinched the Otters’ first league championship since the franchise moved from Niagara Falls, Ontario, to northwestern Pennsylvania in 1996.

June 3, 2004

District 10 Class 3A softball final

‘Game of the ages’ was the Erie Times-News’ headline for that season’s district final between Mercyhurst Prep and McDowell.

That wasn’t an out-and-out exaggeration, given it lasted nearly as long as the length of three PIAA regulation games.

The Lakers, on Emily Sukitsch’s bloop single that scored Halle Stockton, defeated the Trojans 1-0 at Meadville’s Lincoln Avenue Softball Complex. However, that otherwise dramatic development wasn’t the true reason the playoff will be remembered.

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Stockton’s triple and Sukitsch’s game-winning single occurred in the bottom of the 20^th inning.

That’s not a typo.

The bottom of the 20^th inning.

“I just wanted to score,” Stockton said in a Times-News article about the epic. “Once my coach (Brian Kirsch) waved me in, I wanted it so bad I hugged home plate when I got there.”

The PIAA, ahead of its 2009 softball season, added a rule that teams must place a runner at second base for the start of every half-inning as of top of the 10^th.

That decision made it unlikely such marathon games will occur again.

December 15, 2006

PIAA Class 3A football final

The General McLane Lancers, led by 25 for ’25 selections Jim Wells (male coach) and Drew Astorino (male athlete), were state champions thanks to a 28-23 victory vs. Pottsville at Hersheypark Stadium.

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Astorino, from the quarterback position, called his own number en route to 172 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

McLane’s Skelton brothers also contributed in diverse ways. Ryan Skelton followed with 132 yards and one TD on the ground.

Astorino, as a punter, intentionally stepped out of bounds for an safety with 16 seconds left in the fourth quarter. That moved the ball back on the Lancers’ ensuing kickoff, but Dan Skelton’s line-drive kick glanced off a Pottsville player.

McLane not only secured the fumble, but a state title at the end of its 13-2 season. Its ’06 team remains Erie County’s only PIAA football champion outside the City of Erie.

February 4, 2007

Super Bowl XLI

Although the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns weren’t involved, northwestern Pennsylvania football fans still had emotional skin in the game for the finale to the NFL’s 2006 season.

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They had not one, but two reasons to root for the Indianapolis Colts. They were 2000 Cathedral Prep graduate Bob Sanders and 2001 Sharon graduate Marlin Jackson, who roamed the defensive secondary for the AFC’s representative.

Help Indy beat the NFC champion Chicago Bears, and Sanders and Jackson would join the likes of Fred Biletnikoff (Tech Memorial) and Mark Stepnoski (Prep) as former District 10 players who own Super Bowl rings.

Which is what happened when the Peyton Manning-led Colts won 29-17 at Dolphin Stadium in suburban Miami.

Manning was voted the game’s most valuable player, but Sanders was significant when Indy didn’t possess the ball. The former Rambler contributed to two of the Bears’ five turnovers with a forced fumble and a leaping interception of a pass by Chicago’s Rex Grossman.

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Jackson recorded two tackles for the Colts, who were Super Bowl champs for the first time since they played in Baltimore in 1970.

Sanders, who was voted the NFL’s 2007 defensive player of the year, was on injured reserve when Indy lost to New Orleans in Super Bowl XLIV, which also was held at Miami. He played seven seasons for the Colts and one for the San Diego Chargers.

March 23, 2007

PIAA Class 3A boys basketball final

Jim Wells, who coached General McLane’s football team that won the PIAA’s 2006 Class 3A tournament, also was on the sideline when its boys basketball team reached the state’s final for that same class that same academic year.

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Wells was an assistant to coach Andy Schulz for the Lancers’ title matchup against Greencastle-Antrim at Penn State University’s Bryce Jordan Center. He watched some of the same players who led their football team to state glory three months earlier to that same outcome.

Drew Astorino, the regular quarterback for McLane’s football team, was even more vital to its championship victory in basketball. His jumper with two seconds left in regulation was the difference in its 57-55 victory.

No PIAA-affiliated school had football and boys basketball teams claim titles during the same academic year before 2006-07.

December 11, 2008

Erie BayHawks’ first NBA G League home game

Erie County fans experienced professional basketball during the 20^th century’s final decade. The Erie Wave competed in the former World Basketball League from 1990 until its midseason disbandment in July 1992.

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Northwestern Pennsylvania’s next version of professional hoops had a stronger foundation.

The Erie BayHawks, who played their home games at Erie Insurance Arena, were affiliated with multiple NBA franchises through their 2008-17 existence. The original 2008-09 team played their first five games in the formerly named D League on the road before their home debut.

Erie, coached by John Treloar, prevailed with a 103-93 victory vs. the visiting Iowa Wolves. Oliver Lafayette, whose NBA career consisted of one game for the 2009-10 Boston Celtics, recorded a team-high 22 points.

The BayHawks’ Jackie Manuel, a member of the University of North Carolina’s 2004-05 NCAA Division I national championship team, recorded a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

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July 25, 2009

Erie County’s first sanctioned MMA card

Mixed martial arts, a hybrid of boxing, wrestling and other combat sports, was referred to as “human cockfighting” in Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 1996 letter to the United States’ governors.

The former prisoner of war in Vietnam, and future Presidential candidate, urged them not to sanction what he regarded at that time as a competition void of rules beyond its cage-like setting.

Such calls for regulation led to the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which created stricter structures that McCain sought.

Because of that, MMA went from being called “human cockfighting” to being considered the first sport associated with the 21^st century.

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Pennsylvania, the first state which banned the sport in 1983, officially sanctioned it on Feb. 27, 2009.

Erie experienced its first MMA fight card five months later. The Pennsylvania Athletic Commission sanctioned “Downtown Beatdown,” which was promoted by brothers Okey and Jason and Lawrence.

Okey Lawrence won one of the 18 fights held at Erie’s Avalon Hotel ballroom. Fort LeBoeuf graduate Adam Farrell, a 2006 PIAA wrestling gold medalist, won another.

Hybrid boxing/MMA cards in Erie have since become regular twice-a-year events due to promoter Ernie Bizzarro.

September 10, 2010

Cathedral Prep opens Hagerty Family Events Center

The 2010 Cathedral Prep football team defeated the Central Tech Falcons 55-9 in their season opener.

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That result, though, was secondary to where the game was held.

Before that year, most of Prep’s home athletic events took place at off-campus locations. The Ramblers, like most City of Erie high schools, hosted their football games at Veterans Stadium.

That changed with the opening of the Cathedral Prep Events Center, now known as the Hagerty Family Events Center. It was renamed in honor of Chris Hagerty, the school’s former director of strategic initiatives.

School officials, with assistance from three local banks, purchased 11 acres of land occupied by the former Guinite/EMI foundry at West 12^th and Cherry streets. The land was cleared, with construction of Prep’s multi-purpose recreational facility built in its place.

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HFEC is now the outdoor home for the Ramblers’ football, soccer and lacrosse teams (Monsignor John Dollinger Field). Its indoor facilities include the Joann Mullen Gymnasium and the David M. Hallman III Aquatic Center.

The facility also became a go-to destination for District 10 playoff competition.

November 19, 2010

PIAA Class 2A girls soccer final

Nearly 30 years passed before District 10 could boast of its first true state soccer champion.

PIAA officials declared the Cathedral Prep and Strath Haven boys as Class 3A co-titlists when they couldn’t resolve their 1-all tie after the overtime periods were exhausted.

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That match was held at Hersheypark Stadium, the same locale where Mercyhurst Prep’s girls soccer program claimed the district’s first outright title 15 years ago.

The Lakers, coached by Pedro Argaez, capped their 22-0-3 season with a 3-0 victory vs. South Park. It also concluded a four-match PIAA run in which they blanked each opponent.

Jess Armagost, a Gannon University recruit, was Mercyhurst’s goalkeeper of record for each shutout.

The Lakers also prospered thanks to the Becca Costello. The Edinboro University recruit set the state’s single-season record with 45 assists.

Mercyhurst’s 2010 roster listed four other players who were NCAA Division I recruits.

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March 19-20, 2011

Erie hosts NCAA Division I Women’s Frozen Four

Mercyhurst University won the bid to host that season’s national semifinals and final at Erie Insurance Arena.

The host school was almost good enough to play there.

The Lakers qualified for the original eight-team field with an at-large bid as a College Hockey America member. They had to upset third seed Boston University at its rink in order to appear in a de facto home playoff game.

That tantalizing possibility never happened, though, due to the Terriers’ 4-2 quarterfinal win. They beat Cornell University 4-1 in their national semifinal at EIA and then lost to the University of Wisconsin by that same score in the final.

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The Badgers also won the 2021 Division I Women’s Frozen Four, which Erie again hosted. Attendance for those games was hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.

November 17, 2012

PIAA Class 2A girls volleyball final

District 10 enjoyed PIAA champions in that sport for more than 30 years.

Those winners, though, were exclusive to Crawford County.

That changed 13 years ago thanks to Fort LeBoeuf.

The Bison, coached by LeAnn (Byer) Johnson, became northwestern Pennsylvania’s first titlist outside its varsity cradle for girls volleyball. The district’s 2A titlists concluded their PIAA title run with a 25-20, 15-25, 25-20, 25-23 victory vs. Delone Catholic in the teams’ championship match at Central York High School.

LeBoeuf also finished 21-0 during the first season the PIAA switched to standard brackets to determine its titlists.

Shippensburg University recruit Maria Peluso was the star hitter for the 2012 Bison. She was voted the district’s player of the year.

Abby Rose (Mercyhurst University) and Allania Banta (Penn State Behrend) were other notable contributors during LeBoeuf’s championship season.

March 25-28, 2014

Erie hosts NCAA Division II women’s basketball Elite Eight

Gannon University was the host school for the culmination of the 33^rd annual tournament, which concluded with its last three rounds at Erie Insurance Arena.

An Erie County team was even good enough to compete there.

Only it wasn’t the Lady Knights who tipped off against Cal Poly Pomona, but Edinboro University. The Lady Scots were champions of the tournament’s Atlantic Region.

Cal Poly ruined the local fans’ storybook ending with their 81-61 quarterfinal elimination of Edinboro. The Broncos then lost to Bentley University, a Waltham, Massachusetts, school.

Bentley was that season’s Division II national champions with via 73-65 victory in the title game.

September 2, 2014

Tom Lawless named Houston Astros interim manager

The Strong Vincent and Penn State Behrend graduate was already Major League Baseball’s most prominent Erie native before that date.

Lawless was a reserve infielder for Cincinnati Reds, Montreal Expos, St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays between 1982 and 1990. He’s remembered for being dealt to the Expos as part of the 1984 trade that brought Pete Rose back to the Reds, plus hitting a home run for the Cardinals during the 1987 World Series despite a .080 batting average during their regular season.

Lawless transitioned to coaching baseball at the minor league level. He was managing the Texas League’s Corpus Christi Hooks, Houston’s Double-A affiliate, when he was summoned to take over the parent franchise when they fired manager Bo Porter.

The Astros went 11-13 with Lawless in charge of their dugout. They concluded their 2014 season at 70-92 in the American League’s West Division.

Lawless returned to coaching and managing minor leagues teams after Houston hired A.J. Hinch the following offseason.

November 15, 2016

PIAA Class 2A girls volleyball semifinal

Although Corry defeated North Star in that year’s state championship match, it was the Beavers’ previous victory vs. North East their fans likely remember more.

The rare all-Erie County PIAA match between District 10’s 2A qualifiers was considered a de facto state final.

It played out that way. And them some.

Corry, before a capacity crowd at Cathedral Prep’s Joann Mullen Gymnasium, rallied for an epic 22-25, 18-25, 25-21, 26-24, 18-16 victory.

The ‘Pickers led the fifth set 14-8, which meant they had five match points to advance. Corry not only saved all five but won six straight for a tie at 14-all.

The teams then traded points before the Beavers finally won by the mandatory two-point advantage.

“I told the girls (at the 14-8 timeout) that we weren’t going home wishing we could have gotten a point in a different way,” Corry coach Kelly Goodsel said in an Erie Times-News article. “I said to swing as hard as you can, and if you hit the back wall — oh, well — I still love you.

“I can’t believe that (rally) actually happened.”

March 25, 2017

PIAA Class 4A boys basketball final

The rumblings were serious in early 2017 that the City of Erie School District would consolidate its three high schools — East, Central Tech and Strong Vincent — into one for the 2017-18 academic year.

A vote to do that, based on the district’s budget deficit, occurred later that spring. East and Vincent reverted to middle schools and Central Tech became Erie High, the city’s lone public high school.

Vincent’s boys basketball team, coached by former East star Shannon Pullium, won District 10’s 4A tournament during the interim. The Colonels, sensing they’d be the program’s last team, advanced all the way to the state’s championship game.

It was at Hershey’s Giant Center where Philadelphia’s Imhotep Charter defeated the Colonels 80-52.

The game was also the last for Vincent’s David Morris, whose father played for the Gannon University over the late 1980s.

David Morris, with 2,270 varsity points, graduated as Erie County’s all-time scoring leader. He was recruited by NCAA Division I Tennessee State University and later played for Division II Indiana (Pennsylvania) University.

May 12, 2017

Game five, Ontario Hockey League final

The Erie Otters provided statistical company to their 2001-02 status as the league’s Robertson Cup champion.

They clinched their second title in a manner that mimicked their first.

Erie, on an overtime goal off the stick of Anthony Cirelli, beat the Mississauga Steelheads 4-3 before more than 6,700 fans at Erie Insurance Arena. He scored off passes from Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat, who are current NHL players.

The Otters’ five-game title series victory occurred with Kris Knoblauch behind their bench. Kris Knoblauch coached the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers for the franchise’s appearances in the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup finals.

April 29, 2019

Casey Mize’s no-hitter in Erie SeaWolves’ debut

Could make a case the SeaWolves’ pitcher recorded the greatest individual performance in Erie’s minor league baseball history.

Mize’s nine-inning, no-hitter wasn’t the franchise’s first. Thad Weber, who experienced a two-year Major League Baseball career, was the first in 2009.

Weber, though, went into the ninth inning of his no-hitter with Erie up 16-0. He also wasn’t making his first Double-A Eastern League start.

Mize was.

The right-hander, whom the Detroit Tigers chose with the No. 1 overall pick for MLB’s 2018 amateur draft, only had a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the ninth at Altoona’s PNG Field. The possibility existed the Curve’s first hit could have tied or even won the game.

Mize, though, retired the hosts in order. The Springville, Alabama, native set down 19 straight Altoona batters amid his two-walk, seven-strikeout performance.

The Tigers’ 2025 season was Mize’s third full one and fifth overall.

More: Cathedral Prep girls overcome adversity to win PIAA Class 2A cross country team title

November 5, 2022

PIAA Class 2A girls cross country final

Therese Brown-coached girls cross country teams have won five PIAA championships over her 15-year tenure between Villa Maria Academy and Cathedral Prep.

None was more dramatic than the one the 2022 Ramblers claimed against all-time physical odds.

Prep, by “a victory of absolute heart,” according to Brown, finished first in the state meet’s 2A team standings by 111 points to Danville’s 115. It wasn’t the four-point margin which made that outcome memorable, but what the Ramblers endured for their accomplishment.

Prep arrived at that state final, held at Hershey’s Parkview Cross Country Course, with top runner Sarah Clark ill the previous week. Rue Burkett, who sat out the Ramblers’ District 10 appearance because of severe tendonitis in her right leg, aggravated her condition during the race and hobbled across the finish line.

In between, their teammates dealt with nagging injuries.

That Prep still won left Brown admittedly stunned.

“There's no way this team that stepped up to the (starting) line had any business beating all those teams,” she said in an Erie Times-News article. “Last week at (the district meet), yes, we did. But (this race), we were so vulnerable. I commend the girls because they were so mature, and they raced for each other.

“This was kind of miraculous. I never would have guessed this. Never.”

More: 107 points, 3 OTs: State College eliminates McDowell in marathon PIAA 6A football thriller

November 18, 2022

PIAA Class 6A football subregion final

Coach Brad Orlando told the Erie Times-News he was prouder of McDowell’s injury-depleted football team after its loss at State College than others which won similar state games.

That’s how epic that playoff was between the Trojans and the host Little Lions. Their game, played with wind-chill temperatures in single digits at Memorial Field, required 107 points and three rounds of the PIAA’s overtime format before a victor was known.

The last seven of those 107 were Michael Gaul’s 13-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Finn Furmanek, plus the ensuing extra point, for State College’s possession that started the third round of overtime. That forced McDowell to answer with a TD and a PAT or winning two-point conversion.

They never happened.

The memorable game, filled with multiple lead changes throughout its 36-all score after regulation, finally ended when Gaul recovered a Christian Santiago fumble during the Trojans’ possession.

"At the end of the year, you always tell your guys that you're proud of them," Orlando said. "I've been (coaching) for 23 years, and I can tell you I've never been prouder of a group. We had six starters who were injured and didn't play, and these guys still battled.

"These two teams? Wow, what a hell of a game."

More: Erie SeaWolves dominate Binghamton, claim Eastern League championship for first time

September 26, 2023

Game two, Eastern League final

Technically, the 1994 Erie Sailors were northwestern Pennsylvania’s last professional minor league champions before that year. The Frontier League, though, wasn’t sanctioned by Major League Baseball.

Erie’s last title team which was were the 1957 Erie Sailors of the New York-Penn League. It went without a formal baseball champion for more than 50 years.

The drought finally ended amid a run of success that continues to this day.

The Erie SeaWolves, the Detroit Tigers’ Double-A affiliate in the Eastern League, has appeared in each of its championship series since 2022. Losses in that year’s final and this year’s bracketed the two they won.

Erie claimed the league’s 2023 championship with a sweep of its best-of-three series against the Binghamton (New York) Rumble Ponies. A crowd of 6,113 at UPMC Park watched the SeaWolves’ clinch with a rousing 10-0 victory.

Jake Holton hit two of Erie’s three home runs ahead of the collective celebration.

More: Gannon men's basketball wins Atlantic Region title at the buzzer

March 19, 2024

NCAA Division II men’s basketball Atlantic Region final

It’s debatable if the Gannon University men’s basketball team’s buzzer-beating, 67-65 playoff victory vs. the University of Charleston (West Virginia) was the greatest home game in its history.

The Golden Knights beat Youngstown (Ohio) State 71-69 in a 1966 regular season game that spanned six overtime periods at the Highmark Events Center.

However, Gannon’s win 58 years later definitely was its greatest designated home win not held on a campus court.

The Knights’ gymnasium was the midst of a massive renovation over the end of their 2023-24 season. They had to play their home games at Cathedral Prep’s considerably smaller Joann Mullen Gymnasium.

That included their appearances as the region’s top seeds for that year’s Division II tournament. Gannon received that status based on its 29-2 regular season record.

The Golden Knights won twice at their temporary home, which set up the region’s final against Charleston. It was there a capacity crowd of more than 1,700 watched Gannon’s Lyle Tipton miss his game-winning jumper in the lane during the closing seconds of regulation.

However, they also watched teammate Nigel Haughton tip in his offensive rebound for a layup as the overtime period expired. His heroic hoop gave Gannon a 67-65 victory and 32-2 record going into the national quarterfinals.

Although Cal State San Bernardino ended the Knights season during that round, it still occurred a season after their 2022-23 team only won three times.

That turnaround, achieved during Jordan Fee’s lone season as Gannon’s coach, was the greatest at any level of NCAA basketball.

More: Huskies win state: Harbor Creek wins PIAA 3A softball thriller with walk-off hit

June 13, 2024

PIAA Class 3A softball final

The state final between Harbor Creek and Juniata at Penn State University was a reminder why athletics can cathartic.

Juniata pitcher Elizabeth Gaisior struck out the Huskies’ first eight batters. She didn’t allow a base runner until the fifth inning and didn’t surrender a hit until the seventh.

The Fordham University recruit finished the extra-inning title game with 21 strikeouts.

And yet, Gaisior was the losing pitcher. That’s because Harbor Creek, on Brooklynn Cipalla’s opposite-field single to left, scored Maggie Konieczki for the game’s lone run in the bottom of the ninth.

The Huskies’ epic 1-0 victory was the last of their 22-5 season. The program’s second state championship was even more impressive given they attained it as the tournament’s second seeds for District 10.

More: HBO's John Oliver shows support for public media with Erie Moon Mammoths gear at auction

July 19, 2025

Erie Moon Mammoths night at UPMC Park

No baseball crowd in the park’s 30-year history was larger than the 7,070 fans who stuffed it for the Eastern League game between the Chesapeake Baysox and the Erie SeaWolves-turned-Moon Mammoths.

The people responsible for the home team’s temporary nickname change were reasons for the game’s record turnout.

John Oliver, the host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” aired a May 2025 segment which encouraged minor league baseball teams to apply for a rebranding at the British comedian’s full whim.

The SeaWolves were chosen among the promotion’s 47 applicants.

Oliver opted for Moon Mammoths in homage to the 1991 discovery of fossilized mammoth bones at the bottom of the county’s remote Lake Pleasant. They were unearthed by scuba diver George Moon, thus the reason for Erie’s nickname switch that night.

Oliver and Moon were honored in person before the game, with the former also front and center throughout the action. Besides singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for the seventh inning stretch, he briefly served as a batboy, public address announcer and hot dog vendor.

Erie, which lost 6-5, played as the Moon Mammoths three more times over the last two months of its Eastern League regular season.

Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on @ETNcopper.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Times-News concludes 25 for '25 series with top games/news