Portland Sea Dogs starter Connelly Early delivers a pitch Thursday against the Erie SeaWolves at Hadlock Field. Early made his second Double-A start, his first in Portland, in a 6-5 victory. Portland Sea Dogs photo by Ella Hannaford

After his sophomore season at the U.S. Military Academy, Connelly Early was at a crossroads. If he stayed at Army, he’d have to commit to earning his degree from the service academy, then serve five years of active duty.

Coming off a baseball season in which he was named Patriot League Pitcher of the Year, Early ultimately transferred to the University of Virginia to pursue his professional baseball dream.

“(Army) had a lot of coaching change, and I performed pretty well my sophomore season. I decided to look into other options,” said Early, a lefty who made his second start as a member of the Portland Sea Dogs on Thursday – a 6-5, 10-inning win over the Erie SeaWolves.

“Being close to home and close to family was nice as well.”

A native of Midlothian, Virginia, Early began his pro baseball journey when the Red Sox selected him in the fifth round of the 2023 MLB draft.

Thursday afternoon, Early went 4 2/3 innings, striking out six while walking one and allowing three runs. His earned run average for the season, including 15 starts for Class A Greenville, is now 3.61, and he has 101 strikeouts in 77 1/3 innings.

He became the first pitcher from Boston’s 2023 draft class to reach Double-A.

Early allowed three runs in the second inning, his one shaky inning. He gave up three hits, none hit particularly hard, after plunking a pair of batters to put himself in the jam with two outs.

“They put good swings on the ball, and they work the counts pretty well. Overall, I thought the outing went pretty well. Obviously, the two hit batters doesn’t help,” Early said. “I had a lot of offense behind me and some pretty good plays behind me, so overall it was a pretty good day.”

Early made his Sea Dogs debut last Friday in a 3-0 win at Somerset, throwing five scoreless innings. He allowed one hit, with five strikeouts and two walks.

“This is a guy I didn’t get to see much in spring training, so Somerset was the first real good look at him, and I thought he was very impressive over there,” Portland Manager Chad Epperson said. “He’s got a good mix. The fastball plays up, it is 94, but he throws his changeup and (off-speed pitches) for strikes.”

Early thinks his changeup is his best pitch.

“It was pretty solid today. I used it in some good counts. I did a good job of mixing and matching, just trying to keep them off balance,” he said.

Sea Dogs catcher Kyle Teel, Boston’s 2023 first-round pick, played with Early at Virginia. The two helped the Cavaliers reach the College World Series. Teel caught Early last week at Somerset, but had Thursday off.

“Having Kyle back there is nice, and obviously Elih (Marrero) did a great job today, too. At this level, the catchers we’ve got are really solid. It doesn’t matter who’s behind the plate,” Early said. “Even in Greenville, those catchers are solid. They’re working their tail off for you, trying to steal as many strikes as they can for you.”

Portland won Thursday’s game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the 10th inning. Luis Ravelo reached on a throwing error by Erie first baseman Jake Holton that allowed Nick Decker, the automatic runner, to score the tying run from second base. An intentional walk to Roman Anthony and a single by Phillip Sikes loaded the bases for Blaze Jordan, who singled past a drawn-in infield.

The Sea Dogs have won seven straight games and improved to 18-10 in the second half of the season, good for first place in the Northeast Division of the Eastern League.

“You get those guys throwing strikes, and with our defense behind them, we’ll stay in ballgames. It’s been fun to watch,” Epperson said.

SHORTSTOP MARCELO MAYER, the top prospect in the Red Sox system, was placed on the 7-day injured list. Mayer aggravated a lower back injury early in Tuesday’s game against the SeaWolves.

Epperson said he doesn’t expect Mayer to miss much time.

“He’s getting several treatments a day, but we’ll see him in the next series (next week at Hadlock against Altoona),” Epperson said. “There’s no rush with him. Nothing serious, just making sure he’s in a good spot to go out and play the way he can play.”

The fourth overall player selected in the 2021 draft, Mayer is hitting .307 with eight home runs, 38 RBI and 30 runs scored. He leads all Double-A players with 29 doubles.