Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Crushers Drop Rubber Match to Boulders

Lake Erie surrenders five homers in 17-2 loss to New York

Box Score: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2021-22/boxscores/20220526_0iwo.xml

AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers surrendered five home runs to the New York Boulders at Mercy Health Stadium on Thursday afternoon as they fell hard in the rubber match of the three game series, 17-2.

The loss for the Crushers (5-7) marks their third consecutive series loss, while the victory for the Boulders (6-7) marks the second time they’ve won games consecutively this season.

Gerson Molina, Chris Kwitzer, David Vinsky and Tucker Nathans all went deep for New York, with Nathans homering twice, hitting both bombs in a nine run sixth inning for the Boulders.

Molina smashed a three homer to left field with two outs in the top of the second inning to snap a scoreless tie, giving the Boulders an early 3-0 lead.

Lake Erie was able to scratch their first run across in the bottom of the second. Connor Owings started the inning with a double down the line in right, and scored on Jackson Valera’s RBI groundout.

The Boulders answered quickly in the top of the third when Vinsky belted a solo homer to left, before they pulled away with a nine run sixth inning. They sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning, which was highlighted by a two run blast from Nathans, and he struck again later in the inning with a Grand Slam, marking his third homer of the series.

Lake Erie scored their last run in the bottom of the eighth. Valera doubled down the line in right to start the inning and scored on Jarrod Watkins’s RBI single.

New York plated four more runs in the top of the ninth inning. Chris Kwitzer crushed a three run homer to left and Molina drove in a run with a single to center.

Alex Mack (1-0) picked up the win for the Boulders, allowing just a run on three hits over six innings of work. Kaleb Schmidt (0-2) suffered the loss after allowing eight runs, six earned on seven hits over five innings.

Watkins and Bryant Flete led Lake Erie offensively with two hits each. Watkins went 2-for-4 on the day, and finished the series with six hits. Kokko Figueiredo went 1-for-3 with a walk and has reached in all 12 games this season.

The Crushers will begin a three game series with the Empire State Greys at Mercy Health Stadium on Friday night. Brock Begue (0-1, 11.05) will get the start for the Crushers. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.