Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Crushers Fall in Series Finale

Two out hits haunt Crushers in 8-2 loss to Gateway

Box Link: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2021-22/boxscores/20220710_m4my.xml

AVON, Ohio — The Gateway Grizzlies scored six of their eight runs with two outs at Mercy Health Stadium on Sunday night, as they defeated the Lake Erie Crushers in the series finale, 8-2.

The Crushers (22-29) have now lost three straight series at home, while the Grizzlies (27-25) finished their road trip with a 5-1 record.

Gateway fired the first shot in the top of the second inning, when Jay Prather blasted a solo homer to right, his fourth of the season.

The Grizzlies capitalized on a two out error in the third, which opened the door for a big two out rally, which produced four runs. Zach Racusin’s RBI single brought in the first run in that equation and Trevor Achenbach followed with a two run single to left before Clint Freeman capped the rally with a run scoring single to left.

Lake Erie plated their first run in the bottom of the third. Sean Cheely reached on an error to start the inning and moved to second on Jackson Valera’s single to right. Connor Owings reached on a fielder’s choice which moved Cheely to second. The Crushers then executed a double steal, with Cheely scoring on the back end of it to plate Lake Erie’s first run.

The Crushers scored one last run in the bottom of the seventh. Kemuel Thomas-Rivera tripled to center to start the inning and came around to score when Jake Gitter reached on a fielder’s choice.

Gateway plated two more in the eighth inning. Isaac Benard singled to center to score Andrew Penner and Jay Prather brought Benard home on a sacrifice fly.

Julio Vivas (1-7) took the loss for the Crushers after allowing five runs, one earned on six hits over six innings. Brendan Feldmann (4-4) scored the victory for the Grizzlies after allowing a pair of runs on three hits and struck out four through seven innings.

Owings extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single in the sixth inning. Thomas-Rivera’s triple in the seventh extended his hitting streak to eight games.

The Crushers are off on Monday, but will begin a three game series with the Joliet Slammers at Mercy Health Stadium on Tuesday night. Lefty Gunnar Kines (0-1, 5.40) is scheduled