The Richmond Flying Squirrels were held to five hits and lost to the Erie SeaWolves 4-0 on Sunday at UPMC Park. 

Richmond (41-64-1, 20-18 second half) won four of six games in the series against Erie (63-44, 18-20) and remains 1½ games behind first-place Altoona heading into a series at home against the Curve this week. 

Erie took a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Nick Zwack (loss, 0-1). Max Clark led off with an infield single and later scored on a triple by Kevin McGonigle, who then scored on a sacrifice fly by Justice Bigbie. 

After the first-inning runs, Zwack held Erie scoreless over the next five innings with five strikeouts. In four starts since returning to Richmond, Zwack has posted a 1.86 ERA. 

Erie starter Kenny Serwa (win, 5-4) made his second scoreless start of the series, pitching five innings with five strikeouts Sunday. 

In the sixth inning, Bel Malgeri hit a two-out, two-run homer off Manuel Mercedes to extend Erie’s lead to 4-0. 

Jack Choate entered with two runners on and no outs in the seventh but escaped the inning with a strikeout and a double-play groundout. 

The Flying Squirrels returned home to start a series against the Altoona Curve, the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, on Tuesday night.