BOWIE, Md. — There was plenty of frustration and exhilaration in the final two innings for the Portland Sea Dogs on Friday night against the Bowie Baysox.

The Sea Dogs nearly overcame a six-run deficit in the ninth inning, only to fall 8-7 – and this after the ejections of first baseman David Chester and hitting coach Dave Joppie.

First, Chester was tossed in the middle of his at bat in the eighth inning by home plate umpire Ryan Clark. Then Joppie was thrown out during the team’s five-run rally in the ninth after Luis Martinez struck out looking.

“This team has a lot of resiliency,” said Portland center fielder Dave Sappelt, a former major leaguer who was playing in his second game with the Sea Dogs. “The guys don’t get down about previous at bats. If you play every day you have to have that kind of mentality.”

What about the ejections? “It is part of the game. It is baseball,” said Sappelt, who was 1 for 5 and left five runners on base.

“(Clark) just didn’t like the fact that we’re questioning that called third strike,” Sea Dogs Manager Billy McMillon said of Joppie’s ejection. “I think (Clark) had enough.”

Bowie shortstop Ozzie Martinez hit a grand slam during a six-run second inning against Portland starter Heri Quevedo, and first baseman Trey Mancini had a pair of RBI doubles.

“Our Achilles heel is we have one big inning (against) our starter,” McMillon said. “They scored six that one inning. After that we had very good work from our bullpen. You have to like that.”

The last-place Sea Dogs (24-37) lost for the seventh time in eight games while second-place Bowie (33-27) has won eight of its last 11.

Shortstop Marco Hernandez had three hits and an RBI.

The Sea Dogs started the ninth with four straight extra-base hits off Bowie reliever Kenn Kasparek, capped by Jantzen Witte’s two-run homer that cut the margin to 8-6.

Keury De La Cruz was then hit by a pitch, and Andrew Triggs came in for the Baysox. He struck out Luis Martinez looking, leading to Joppie’s ejection, then got Sappelt to ground out.

Jonathan Roof’s infield single brought home De La Cruz, but Triggs then struck out Oscar Tejeda looking.

Cleanup hitter Brandon Snyder started Bowie’s six-run rally in the second with with a solo homer. Garabez Rosa added an RBI double before Ozzie Martinez made it 6-0 with his second homer.

Quevedo (0-2) left in the third after giving up an RBI double to Mancini that made it 7-0. The Portland right-hander gave up seven runs and seven hits in 21/3 innings.

The Sea Dogs got on the board on an RBI groundout by Cole Sturgeon in the fifth. Sappelt walked with the bases loaded later in the inning.

Mancini had another RBI double in the bottom of the fifth to cap Bowie’s scoring.

Bowie starter Parker Bridwell gave up six hits and two runs in 42/3 innings and did not figure in the decision. Dennis Torres (2-0) got the win with 31/3 scoreless relief innings.

NOTES: The Sea Dogs, who ended a six-game losing streak Thursday at Richmond, entered Friday last in the league in homers with 22 and 10th out of 12 teams in runs with 234.