May 16, 2019

Crushers offense explodes to win series over Southern Illinois

AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers, presented by Mercy Health, beat the Southern Illinois Miners at Sprenger Healthcare Stadium on Thursday afternoon, by a score of 7-6 to win the three-game series.

The win for the Crushers (4-2) seals their second consecutive series win, while the Miners (2-4) lose their second consecutive series to start the Summer.

Jared Koenig (1-0) pitched well in his first start of the season to earn the victory. Koenig threw 5.0 innings and gave up three un-earned runs off of three hits, walked three and struck out seven Southern Illinois batters. Chase Adkins (0-1) is credited with the loss after he gave up five earned runs off of seven hits, walked two and struck out four over 4.0 innings of work.

The Lake Erie Crushers offense started hot and never seemed to cool down throughout the game. In the bottom of the first inning Aaron Hill smacked his first homerun of the season to give the Crushers an early 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the fourth, the Crushers added three more runs to make it 4-0. Emmanuel Marrero continued his hot start to the season as he hit a two RBI double to extend the Crushers lead in that fourth inning. In the same inning, Bodie Bryan jumped in on the fun with an RBI single of his own to score Marrero.

It was not until the top of the fifth inning when the Miners put up their first run of the game. Andy Cosgrove led off the inning with a double. Anthony Brocato would then reach on a throwing error committed by Marrero. Because of the throwing error, that allowed Cosgrove to score the un-earned run and make the score 4-1. Two batters later, Gianfranco Wawoe hit a two-run homerun for his first homerun of the summer and to cut the lead to 4-3. But the Crushers offense answered immediately with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 7-3. The Miners put up one run in the top of the sixth courtesy of the solo homerun from Stephen Lohr. Entering the top of the ninth the Crushers had a 7-4 lead but would make it interesting as Seth Lucio (2) walked the first three batters he faced. Lucio would allow two runs to score off of a past ball and a wild pitch. But the late game push was not enough for the Miners as Lucio would go on to earn his second save of the Summer by forcing Brett Siddall to pop out with the tying run on base.

The Crushers offense was on fire today. Lake Erie scored seven runs off of 11 hits and was led by Marrero. Marrero ended the day going 2-4 with one run scored and four RBI. Eight out of the nine Crushers batters reach base safely in today’s contest and seven out of the nine recorded at least one hit. Dale Burdick finished the day 2-4 with a run scored, Zach Racusin went 2-5 with two runs scored, and Bodie Bryan hit 2-3 with two RBI in the nine hole.

Lake Erie’s middle relief efforts were rock solid again. Jake Repavich and Kent Hasler combined to throw 3.0 innings only giving up one earned run, two hits, and struck out five Southern Illinois batters to slow down the Miners offense.

The Crushers will start a three-game series with the Washington Wild Things at Consol Energy Park in Washington, PA on Friday night. Right-hander Greyfer Eregua will take the mound for the Crushers. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

The Lake Erie Crushers, the 2009 Frontier League Champions, and 2011 Frontier League Organization of the year, play ball at Sprenger Health Care Stadium, a 5,000 capacity stadium located in Avon, Ohio.  The Frontier League is an independent baseball league with 10 teams operating throughout the Midwest. For more information on tickets, promotions and team news, visit the team website at www.LakeErieCrushers.com or call 440-934-3636.

Video: MAY 16 LEC VS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

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