Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Lake Erie outhit 13-3 in 6-1 loss to Southern Illinois

Box Link: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscoretext.html?gameid=542557

AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers were held to just a run on three hits on Wednesday night at Mercy Health Stadium as they dropped the third game of the series, falling 6-1 to the Southern Illinois Miners.

The Crushers (8-11) can now only hope for a series split at best, which brings their streak of three consecutive series victories to an end while the Miners (8-11) have now won three out of their last four.

There was a little bit of traffic on the bases over the first three innings of the game, as both starting pitchers had to work out of a little trouble. However, the first runs of the game didn’t come across until the top of the fourth.

Southern Illinois scored three times on four hits to snap a scoreless tie in the fourth. It began with a lead off double from Jared Mang and Nolan Earley followed with a single to center. Ryan Stacy then hit a chopper back to the mound which Sean Johnson (0-3) handled, but his throw to the plate in an attempt to get Mang out was just a little late, giving the Miners a 1-0 lead. After Johnson retired the next two batters, Anthony Brocato delivered a two-run single to center to cap the inning.

The Miners pushed another run across in the top of the fifth inning. Ian Walters started the inning with a single to center and he came around to score with two outs on an infield single from Marshall Rich.

Lake Erie answered in the bottom of the inning. Brody Wofford hit a line drive that went off of the starting pitcher Kaleb Schmidt (2-0). Schmidt recovered and threw to first, but his throw ended up in foul territory, allowing Wofford to reach second. Wofford scored two batters later on Zack Gray’s two out RBI single to center.  Gray’s hit would be Lake Erie’s last in the contest, as they had just two base runners the rest of the way.

Southern Illinois added single runs in the sixth, and the eighth on RBI base hits from Luke Mangieri and Yeltsin Gudino.

Schmidt took the victory over the Miners, allowing just a run on three hits over 5 1/3 innings of action and walked four while fanning five. Johnson suffered the loss for the Crushers after surrendering four runs on nine hits and struck out seven over five innings.

The Crushers and Miners will bring their four game series to a close on Thursday night. Lefty Paul Hall Jr. (0-1, 6.06) will get the start for the Crushers and the Miners will counter with right-hander Trent Johnson (0-1, 3.60). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.