Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Crushers Erupt in the Eighth

Lake Erie comes from behind to beat Joliet 6-5 in series finale

Box Link: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2021-22/boxscores/20220612_1ylr.xml

AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers scored five times in the eighth inning of Sunday afternoon’s game against the Joliet Slammers and came from behind to take the series finale at Mercy Health Stadium, 6-5.

The victory for the Crushers (11-16) snapped a four game losing streak, while the loss for the Slammers (15-13) brought their six game winning streak to an end. Lake Erie went 2-4 on the home stand, and all six games were decided by two runs or less.

Both starting pitchers performed well, making runs very tough to come by early on. Gunnar Kines kept the Slammers off the board for the first four innings, until they scored three times in the fifth. Scott Holzwasser drove in the game’s first run on a RBI double to right and Matt McGarry followed with a two run double to cap the inning.

Lake Erie got on the board in the top of the sixth, when they hit their first of three homeruns on the afternoon. Kenen Irizarry belted a solo shot to right center, his third of the season to bring Lake Erie within two (3-1).

Joliet struck again in the seventh inning. Holzwasser started the inning with a double and came around to score on Brylie Ware’s RBI single to right. The Slammers scored their final run in the top of the eighth. Tyler Depreta-Johnson singled with two outs and scored on Holzwasser’s third hit of the game, a run scoring single to right.

Down 5-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Crushers sent eight batters to the plate and scored five times to take the lead. Danny Perez started the rally with a single and Sean Cheely followed with a walk. Alonzo Jones belted a one out single to right field to load the bases for Bryant Flete. Perez scored moments later on Flete’s sacrifice fly. Kokko Figueiredo then tied the game with a towering three run blast over the wall in right field, his second of the season. Connor Owings followed with a solo homer to center, his fourth of the season which proved to be the eventual game winner.

Gleyvin Pineda (3-0) allowed a run on three hits in the eighth inning and picked up the victory while Alexis Rivero (1) scored the save after tossing a scoreless ninth inning. Cole Stanton (1-1) took the loss after allowing a pair of runs on two hits over two-thirds of an inning.

Eight Crushers reached safely on the afternoon, despite being held to just seven hits. Danny Perez paced Lake Erie with a 2-for-2 performance and drew a walk as well. Rodney Tennie reached on a walk and a single. He’s now reached in nine straight games and hit safely in his last six.

The Crushers are off on Monday but will begin a nine game road trip on Tuesday night. The trip begins with a three game series against the Windy City Thunderbolts and the first pitch on Tuesday night is scheduled for 8:05 PM.