Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Crushers Score Big Series Win

Bullpen shines as Lake Erie takes rubber match from Miners

Box Link: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/boxscores/20230608_digv.xml

AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers used a handful of bullpen arms to keep Sussex County off the board over the final five innings of Thursday night’s contest at Mercy Health Stadium, as they took the rubber match from the Miners, 4-3.

The victory for the Crushers (11-13) marked their first series victory since May 20, snapping a streak of four consecutive series lost, while the loss for the Miners (14-8) was their third in their last five games.

Most of the scoring was done early on. The Miners struck first with a pair of runs in the top of the first. Edwin Mateo stroked a double to right to start the game. Gavin Stupienski brought him home on a RBI single to right. Two batters later, Jawaun Harris belted a two out RBI single to center to score Stupienski.

Lake Erie responded with a trio of runs in the bottom of the first. Todd Isaacs Jr. reached on Abraham Mow’s throwing error at third to start the inning. Santiago Chirino followed with a single and Gabe Snyder brought Isaacs home with a RBI single to right. Jarrod Watkins plated Lake Erie’s next run on a sacrifice fly to right to score Chirino. Lake Erie then executed a double steal, with Jiandido Tromp stealing second and Snyder scored from third on the play to give Lake Erie a 3-2 lead.

Sussex County came right back with a run in the top of the second to tie the game at 3-3. On the second pitch of the inning, Juan Santana belted a solo homer to left, his third of the season.

Both teams had chances to take the lead the rest of the way, and for Sussex County, their best chance came in the top of the seventh. They had the bases loaded with one out, when Darrien Ragins (1-0) struck out Harris and Oraj Anu to negate the threat and keep the game tied.

The Crushers capitalized on that momentum very quickly, as Gabe Snyder led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a colossal 402-foot solo homer to right, his third of the season to give the Crushers a 4-3 lead.

Lake Erie’s bullpen combination of Perry Bewley, Thomas Bruss, Ragins, Trevor Kuncl and Alexis Rivero (3) combined to toss five scoreless innings of relief and allowed just four hits along the way. Ragins picked up the victory in his lone inning of work, while Rivero scored his second save in as many nights.

Isaacs led the way for Lake Erie offensively, going 2-for-4 on the night and finished the series with six hits. Tromp reached safely two times on the night and extended his on base streak to 15 games in the process.

The Crushers will continue their homestand at Mercy Health Stadium on Friday night as they begin a three game series with the Windy City Thunderbolts. Right-hander JD Hammer (0-1, 3.86) will start for the Crushers and the Thunderbolts will counter with right-hander Henry Omana (4-0, 0.82). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.