Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Crushers snap nine game slide

Lake Erie losing streak ends in double header split

Box Game One: http://pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=564860

Box Game Two: http://pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=542523

AVON, Ohio — A season long, nine game losing streak came to an end for the Lake Erie Crushers on Tuesday night at Mercy Health Stadium, as the Crushers split a double header with the Gateway Grizzlies.

Lake Erie (25-29) dropped the first game in a homerun derby tie-breaker, and won in walk off fashion with a t 4-3 victory in game two. The loss snapped Gateway’s (24-31) four game winning streak against the Crushers.

Game One

Lake Erie fired the first shot in the bottom of the first inning. Steven Kraft reached on Jose Rosario’s one out error at second base. Moments later, Isaac Benard belted his fourth homer of the year, a two run shot over the wall in right to give the Crushers a 2-0 lead.

The Crushers added another run in the bottom of the third. Eric Callahan began the inning with a double and Shawon Dunston Jr.’s sacrifice bunt moved Callahan to third. Kraft followed with a RBI single to left, giving the Crushers a 3-0 advantage.

The Grizzlies battled back with a pair of runs on the top of the fourth. Chase Vallot started the inning with a walk and came around to score on Rosario’s double to the gap in right center field. With two down in the inning, Justin Jones brought Rosario home on a single to right field.

Rosario struck again to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth inning. Jay Prather reached on a fielder’s choice and with two outs, he came around to score on Rosario’s RBI double off the wall in center field.

Both teams squandered chances to score in the eighth inning, which forced a homerun derby tiebreaker. The Grizzlies defeated the Crushers, 5-1 in the derby, with Achenbach hitting the only homer for the Crushers.

Game Two

Gateway struck first in the second game, scoring a run on just one hit in the top of the first inning. It began with a single from Ty Moore. Abdiel Diaz and Andres Renault both walked to load the bases before Jose Rosario was hit by a pitch to score Moore. Aaron Glickstein was able to minimize the damage however, as he induced an inning ending 4-6-3 double play moments later.

The Crushers answered quickly with a pair of runs to take the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Kraft walked with one out and made his way to third on Benard’s double down the line in left. Achenbach brought them both home on a single to left field.

Another Grizzlies batter was plunked with the bases loaded to tie the game in the top of the third. Diaz began the inning with a walk. He moved to third after a single from Regnault and a walk issued to Chase Vallot. Glickstein then hit Dustin Woodcock with a pitch to score Diaz, tying the game at 2-2.

Gateway was able to take the lead in the top of the fifth inning when Regnault belted a solo shot over the wall in left, his 11th of the season.

The Crushers were down to their final three outs in the bottom of the seventh inning when they rallied for a pair of runs on just one hit to come from behind and win their first game in 10 days. The inning started with back-to-back walks issued to Connor Oliver and Bryan DeLaRosa. Steve Passatempo’s bunt moved Oliver to third, but DeLaRosa was thrown out at second on the play. A wild pitch brought Oliver home to tie the game, and Shawon Dunston Jr. finished the game two batters later on a RBI single to center field to score Passatempo.

Sam Curtis (2-0) picked up the victory, allowing just a run on two hits over 4 2/3 innings of relief. He fanned four batters in the process. Tanner Cable (0-2) took the loss after allowing two runs on  just the one hit in the seventh inning.

The Crushers and Grizzlies will continue their series at Mercy Health Stadium on Wednesday night. Lefty Ryan Feierabend (4-3, 4.11) will start for the Crushers and the Grizzlies will counter with right-hander Geoff Bramblett (1-0, 1.28). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.