Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Crushers Walk Off in 2-1 Win

Lake Erie wins in their final at bat to take series from Empire State

Box Link: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/boxscores/20230518_hir7.xml

AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers scored their first walk off win of the season at Mercy Health Stadium on Thursday afternoon, as they took the series finale from the Empire State Greys in a 2-1 victory.

The Crushers (4-2) have now won 13 out of their last 15 games at home while the loss for the Greys (2-4) was their fifth in their last six games against the Crushers.

Quite like the previous day, runs were very difficult to come by, despite the fact that both teams had a respectable amount of traffic on the bases. While there were only three runs scored, the two teams combined to hit safely 17 times.

Lake Erie took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Brendon Dadson started a two out rally with a single and moved to second on Jack Harris’s base hit through the left side of the infield. Vince Byrd Jr. smashed the next pitch down the right field line for a RBI double to score Dadson.

The lead stood until the Greys plated their lone run of the contest in the top of the seventh. Eric Callahan and John Mead reached on back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second. John Antonopoulos then hit a ground ball to first, but Byrd’s throw to second in an attempt to get Mead hit off of Mead’s helmet and went into left field, allowing Callahan to score.

In the bottom of the ninth, Kenen Irizarry started the inning with a four pitch walk. Lake Erie then executed a hit and run, as Santiago Chirino poked a single in to right field and advanced Irizarry to third. Dadson then hit a ground ball to third, but JR DiSarcina’s throw to home plated bounced to the backstop, allowing Irizarry to score the game winning run.

Lake Erie pitching was terrific for the second straight game. In his second start of the season, Lake Erie lefty Kyle Seebach tossed five scoreless innings and allowed four hits while striking out nine. Perry Bewley and JD Hammer both worked scoreless innings in relief and Sam Curtis (1-1) tossed a scoreless ninth inning to score the win. Despite the unlucky break in the seventh, Trevor Kuncl pitched well also, allowing just a run on two hits in his only inning of relief.

Chirino paced the Lake Erie offense with a trio of hits, going 3-for-5 and has four multi-hit games this season. Harris turned in a two hit game as well, going 2-for-4 with a pair of base hits, and Dadson went 1-for-3, reaching three times on the day. Dadson reached safely eight times in the series.

The Crushers will continue their nine game home stand and begin a three game series with the Florence Y’alls at Mercy Health Stadium on Friday night. Right-hander Angelo Baez (1-0, 0.00) will get the start for the Crushers. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.