Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Crushers cruise in 7-2 win over Florence

Box Link: http://pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=542528

AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers scored early and often and took a no-hit bid into seventh inning of Saturday night’s game at Mercy Health Stadium as they came away with a 7-2 victory over the Florence Y’Alls.

The win for Lake Erie (27-31) followed back-to-back shutout losses, while the loss for Florence (35-23) was their fourth in their last five games. The Crushers scored seven times on 11 hits, after being held scoreless on six hits in the previous two games combined.

The fun started for the Crushers in the bottom of the first inning. Isaac Benard singled into right field and came around to score on Trevor Achenbach’s two run homer to left, his 10th of the season.

Lake Erie added to that 2-0 lead by scoring a trio of runs on four hits, including three doubles in the bottom of the second. Steve Passatempo started the inning with a single down the line in left and Javier Betancourt followed with a double to left. Eric Callahan brought Passatempo home with a groundout to score the first run of the inning. Steven Kraft and Benard followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to cap the inning.

The Crushers used the long ball to add to their lead in the bottom of the fifth. Karl Ellison smashed a solo homer to left, his third of the season to give the Crushers a 6-0 lead. Callahan hit his first professional homer one inning later with a solo bomb to left to score Lake Erie’s final run of the night.

Sam Curtis (3-0) made his first start of the season, and tossed six sensational innings. He held the Y’Alls hitless through six and struck out six batters to snag the win. The Y’Alls broke up the no-hit bid in the seventh and scored a pair of runs. Jose Brizuela broke up the no hitter as he singled off Taylor Sugg and Harrison DiNicola drove in their first run on a sacrifice fly. Jordan Brower followed with a run scoring single to center.

Curtis out-dueled one of the finest starting pitchers in the Frontier League in Florence lefty Jonaiker Villalobos (3-3). The Crushers tagged him for seven runs on 11 hits over six innings of action.

All nine in the starting lineup reached safely for the Crushers and eight out of the starting nine hit safely at least once. Benard and Passatempo led the way for Lake Erie with two hits each. Kraft’s double in the second inning extended his on base streak to 11 games.

The Crushers will finish their home stand and their series with the Florence Y’Alls at Mercy Health Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Aaron Glickstein (3-3, 5.17) will start for the Crushers and Florence will counter with righty Kevin Hahn (3-3, 4.46). The first pitch is scheduled for 2:05 PM.