Jun 21, 2019

Bottoms Up

Bottoms Up
Bottom half of the order paces Crushers in 7-3 victory over Otters

AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers, presented by Mercy Health, used a balanced offensive attack to score seven times on 12 hits at Sprenger Healthcare Stadium on Friday night, as five Crushers hit safely multiple times in their 7-3 victory over the Evansville Otters.

The victory for the Crushers (18-16) was their sixth in their last nine games, while the loss for the Otters (20-16) was their second in a row, following a three game winning streak.

Batters 5-9 in the Lake Erie batting order produced 10 of Lake Erie’s 12 hits on the night, scored six of Lake Erie’s seven runs and drove in five runs as well.

Evansville used the long ball to get on the board first. In the top of the second, Carlos Castro belted a one out single to center, and came around to score a few moments later after Hunter Cullen blasted Jack Granath’s 1-2 pitch over the wall in right field for his sixth homer of the season.

Lake Erie responded with a pair of runs to tie the game in the bottom of the second. Zach Racusin was hit by the second pitch of the inning and made his way to second on Emmanuel Marrero’s single to left. Dale Burdick’s fly out to left allowed both base runners to advance, and John Cable followed with a RBI single to right, scoring Racusin to get the Crushers on the board. Bryan DeLaRosa drove in the game tying run on the very next pitch, with a sacrifice fly out to left, scoring Marrero to make it a 2-2 ballgame.

The Crushers used a pair of base hits and a series of wild pitches to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Burdick belted a one out single to left, before reaching second on the first wild pitch of the inning. Cable followed with a single to right to move Burdick to third and Burdick scored the go-ahead run moments later on a wild pitch.

Evansville tied the game in the top of the fifth inning. Anthony Maselli reached on a one out walk, and made his way to second after Burdick’s throwing error at third. Keith Grieshaber then reached on an infield single to load the bases and Maselli scored moments later on Ryan Long’s sacrifice fly out.

Lake Erie regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, capitalizing on their only homer of the night. Burdick belted a one out single, his second of the night, and scored moments later on DeLaRosa’s two-run homer to left, his first of the season.

The Crushers added two more in the bottom of the eighth inning to pull away. Marerro started the inning with a double to right and scored a couple of pitches later on Burdick’s RBI single to center. With two outs in the inning, Aaron Hill smacked a RBI triple to the gap in left center to plate the game’s final run.

Jake Repavich (3-2) scored the victory for the Crushers, allowing just a run on three hits and fanned five over 3.1 innings of relief. Tyler Beardsley (3-2) took the loss, after surrendering five runs on nine hits over seven innings of work. Kent Hasler and Logan Lombana also tossed scoreless innings of relief for the Crushers.

Marrero, Burdick, Hill, Cable and Steven Kraft all hit safely multiple times on the night. Burdick led the way with three hits, going 3-for-4, and DeLaRosa went 1-for-3 with three runs batted in.

The Crushers will continue their three-game series against the Evansville Otters at Sprenger Healthcare Stadium on Saturday night. Right-hander Dylan Mouzakes (2-2, 2.97) will start for the Crushers and the Otters will counter with lefty Jacques Pucheu (0-0, 6.23). The first pitch is scheduled for 6:05 PM.

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Video: June 21 . LEC vs. Evansville

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