Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Bullpen Bears Down

Bullpen shines in 2-1 Crushers victory

Box Link: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/boxscores/20230819_uxbf.xml

AVON, Ohio — One night after suffering an 11-0 loss to the Gateway Grizzlies, the Lake Erie Crushers used six pitchers on a bullpen day to hold the Grizzlies to a run on seven hits, as they came away with a 2-1 victory on Saturday night at Mercy Health Stadium.

The victory for the Crushers (33-50) snapped a brief three game slide while the loss for the Grizzlies (50-32) was their first in four games against the Crushers this season.

The matchup didn’t look great for the Crushers on paper, as they were facing one of the Frontier League’s finest starting pitchers in Gateway’s Collin Sullivan (10-4). Sullivan hadn’t lost a game since July 21st entering Saturday’s contest.

While Sullivan pitched well despite the loss, the Crushers received a number of great pitching performances. Darrien Ragins made his second start of the year, and his first since June 20. He tossed four scoreless innings and allowed just three hits while fanning three batters as well. Cal McAninch, Shane Gustafson and Sam Frontino (1-0) all tossed scoreless innings in relief to follow Ragins. Trevor Kuncl allowed a run on two hits and struck out two in the eighth inning, before the Crushers called on one of their starting pitchers, Yasel Santana (1) to slam the door. Santana worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to secure the save.

Lake Erie fired the first shot in the bottom of the first inning. Jiandido Tromp started the inning with a single to center and made his way to second after Scout Knotts was hit by a pitch. Josh Rego brought him home a few moments later on a RBI single to right.

The Crushers added to their lead in the bottom of the sixth. Rego began the inning with a base hit to left. Jarrod Watkins moved him to third on a base hit and Rego came around to score on Jackson Pritchard’s sacrifice fly.

Gateway scored their lone run in the top of the eighth inning. Mark Vierling stroked a one out single to center and made his way to second on a wild pitch. Kyle Gaedele drove him home later in the inning on a two out RBI single to left.

Rego paced the Crusher offense, going 2-for-4 with a pair of base hits. Knotts reached safely twice on the night, going 1-for-3 with a single.

The Crushers will finish their six game homestand and their series with the Grizzlies at Mercy Health Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Matt Mulhearn (5-5, 3.46) will get the start for the Crushers and the Grizzlies will counter with righty Joey Gonzalez (9-7, 5.11). The first pitch is scheduled for 2:05 PM.