Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

July 20, 2023

Box Score: https://www.frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/boxscores/20230720_9cyc.xml

Evansville, IN – The Lake Erie Crushers continue to struggle on the road as they dropped the series finale to the Evansville Otters 11-0. 

The Crushers (24-33) are yet to win a series on the road this year, and they have not won a rubber match since June 08. The Otters’ (32-24) bats came to life in the back half of the game which led to Lake Erie’s demise. 

The scoring began in the bottom of the first inning. Noah Meyers led off with a double to right field. He scored on two wild pitches which gave the Otters the early 1-0 advantage. 

Offenses for both sides were then quiet until the bottom of the fifth inning. Evansville’s Josh Broughton homered to left-center field and made it a 2-0 affair.

In the seventh frame, the pitching fell apart and the Otters scored seven times to split the game open. Most of the damage was done with two outs. The highlight of the inning came when Kona Quiggle hit a grand slam to right field, which broke the backs of the Crushers. 

The Otters piled on another pair in the next inning, as if there was any doubt that they were not leading by enough. Trouble came again with two outs after an error let a man on followed by another Quiggle homer. That marked RBIs number five and six on the night for him. 

The Crushers could not do anything offensively, and for the 30th time this year, they have been held to three runs or less. It is their third time getting shutout. 

JD Hammer (2-3) got the start for the Crushers. He went 6.0 innings giving up a pair of runs on three hits – Hammer gave Lake Erie another good start but ultimately picked up the loss. 

Justin Watland (6-3) went 7.0 strong innings for the Otters en route to the team shutout and allowed just two hits while striking out nine. He earned the win and Kevin Davis closed the door, pitching the last two innings.

The Crushers will look for a rebound with a short turnaround. They play the Joliet Slammers to begin a new series on the road with the first pitch tomorrow coming at 6:35 PM CDT.