Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Joliet strikes for 14 runs on 16 hits; Crushers stay put at 5.0 games back

Box Score: pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=542581

JOLIET, Illinois – The Lake Erie Crushers found themselves on the wrong end of a 14-2 game Wednesday night against the Joliet Slammers. An offense that was nearly unstoppable over the previous three games could not generate consistency throughout the contest.

The Slammers (22-39) started in the bottom of the second on the scoreboard. A couple of sacrifices into the outfield gave Joliet the early lead.

Joliet never turned back in the contest. The Slammers beheld an 8-0 lead in the sixth. That is when the Crushers sparked their only offense of the night.

Zack Gray was credited with the two runs batted in for Lake Erie. He ripped a base hit into right field to score Steve Passatempo and Connor Oliver.

Joliet racked up six hits in its half of the seventh inning, plating three runs. The Slammers created three more tallies an inning later to finish the mark at 14 runs.

Manager Dan Rohn, pitching coach Greg Cadaret, and Passatempo were all ejected from the contest.

Chris Roycroft (2-1) was deemed the winner in the middle game. He dazzled with six innings of work, distributing two runs to Lake Erie on seven hits.

Paul Hall Jr. (2-5) was assigned the loss in the game tonight. He went four-plus innings, surrendering seven runs on five hits with two strikeouts and four walks.

The loss drops Lake Erie to 29-32. With a Schaumburg loss earlier in the night, the gap remains at five games in the Central Division.

Tyson Cronin is scheduled to have the pitching duties on Thursday in the finale. His opposition is yet to be determined. The rubber match will get underway at 8:05 pm EST.