AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers, presented by Mercy Health, lost to the Schaumburg Boomers at Boomers Stadium on Wednesday night, by a score of 3-2 to drop their second consecutive game and are no longer in sole possession of first place in the East division.
The loss for the Crushers (7-4) means they can no longer win the first series with Schaumburg, while the Boomers (7-4) win and are now tied for first place in the East Division with Lake Erie.
Alex Romero was the starter for the Crushers tonight. Romero put together another solid start as he threw 7.0 innings, gave up two earned runs off of six hits, walked none, and struck out seven Boomers batters. Augie Gallardo (0-1) is credited with the loss tonight as he gave up the go ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Gallardo recorded two outs, gave up one earned run off of two hits, walked one, and struck out one. Kent Hasler came in to pitch to one batter and struck him out. Taylor Goshen started for Schaumburg but did not earn the win. Goshen threw 5.0 innings, gave up one earned run off of five hits, walked one, and struck out three Crushers batters. Goshen was relieved by Darrell Thompson in the sixth inning. Thompson would go on to give up one earned run off one hit over his one inning pitched. Dylan Stutsman (2-0) is credited with the win as he threw a scoreless eighth inning. Stutsman gave up one hit, walked one, and struck out three batters. Connor Eller (4) earned his fourth save of the Summer when he pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
The Boomers offense struck first in the bottom of the third inning. Jack Parenty hit a one-out double and would come around to score the first run of the game a batter later when Clint Hardy hit a double of his own. Lake Erie answered right back with a run in the top of the fourth inning when Steven Kraft delivered a two-out RBI double to score Zach Racusin. The tie would not last long as Nick Oddo took Romero deep on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the fourth inning. Schaumburg would lead 2-1 until the top of the sixth inning when Dale Burdick tied the game up with a solo shot.
The game would stay tied until the eighth inning. In the top of the eighth it looked as though the Crushers were going to take the lead. James Davison Jr. led off the inning with a double. Aaron Hill would then come up and draw a walk, but Stutsman would go on to rip the heart out of the Crushers one batter at a time. Stutsman then struck out Emmanuel Marrero, Dale Burdick, and Jake Vieth in a row to end the top half of the inning. To make matters worse, all three strikeouts were looking strikeouts. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Boomers took the lead off an RBI single from Quincy Nieporte.
The Crushers offense was led by the four through seven-hole batters. Burdick, Vieth, Racusin, and Kraft combined to go 7-15, with two runs scored, and two RBI. Those four batters had seven of Lake Erie’s eight hits. Burdick finished his day going 1-4 with a solo homerun, while Vieth finished the day 1-3 with a walk. Racusin’s final line read 2-4 with a run scored, and Kraft went 3-4 with an RBI.
The Crushers will continue the three-game series with the Schaumburg Boomers at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg, IL on Thursday afternoon. Left-hander Jared Koenig will take the mound for the Crushers. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM CST.
The Lake Erie Crushers, the 2009 Frontier League Champions, and 2011 Frontier League Organization of the year, play ball at Sprenger Health Care Stadium, a 5,000 capacity stadium located in Avon, Ohio. The Frontier League is an independent baseball league with 10 teams operating throughout the Midwest. For more information on tickets, promotions and team news, visit the team website at www.LakeErieCrushers.com or call 440-934-3636
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