Avon, OH – The heavy-hitting Florence Y’alls (24-33) snuck past the Lake Erie Crushers (37-21) to start the second half. A big inning led to their 6-3 win. Despite the loss, the Crushers remain 1.5 games back of first place in the Frontier League West.
The scoring opened up in the 2nd inning. Y’alls DH Langston Ginder singled into right field that brought home LF Stephen Hrustich. The throw from Crushers RF Sam Franco was strong but off the mark by a few feet. The score gave Florence an early 1-0 lead.
In the 3rd the Y’alls started to find lots of hard contact against Crushers starter Pedro Echemendia. RF Hank Zeisler logged an RBI single to wet the palate for C Sergio Gutierrez. The Y’alls all-star launched a two-out three run bomb to put Florence up 5-0. It was Gutierrez’ second homer at Crushers Stadium this season.
Gutierrez got another tally on the board for Florence in the 5th with an RBI single. With a 6-0 lead the Y’alls were looking good. Their offense was being flanked by an excellent outing by RHP Reed Smith. Smith’s first and only hiccup came in the bottom of the 5th.
RF Sam Franco crushed a ball over the center field wall to lead off the inning for his first home run as a Crusher. His shot cut the lead down to five runs.
RHP Leonardo Rodriguez worked two scoreless innings in relief of Echemendia, striking out four batters in his outing.
In the 8th inning off new pitcher, RHP Alex Wagner, 3B Logan Thomason went for the ultra-XBH with his fifth homer of the season. The solo shot cut the score to 6-2, and the Crushers weren’t done. C John Tuccillo smacked an RBI double to score another run and get the Crushers back within three. With two men on and two outs, 2B Walner Espinal represented the tying run, however, Wagner was able to strike him out to end the threat.
The Y’alls trotted out RHP Cameron Pferrer for the save in the 9th. He was able to set down the top part of the order 1-2-3 to secure the 6-3 win for Florence.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florence Y’alls | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 1 |
| Lake Erie Crushers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
Lake Erie now shifts gears to the second game of the series on Saturday, July 20. With postgame fireworks to follow, the first pitch is set to begin at 7:05 p.m. from Crushers Stadium in Avon, Ohio. It’s Christmas in July, so come bundled up in your favorite Christmas PJs and ugly sweaters!
Interested in attending? Tickets can be found at the link provided below:
https://mlb.tickets.com/schedule/?agency=LERV_PL_MPV&orgid=57231#/?view=list&includePackages=true
Can’t join us at the ballpark? No worries! You can stream the Lake Erie Crushers all season long at FloSports.tv.
Frontier League Standings: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/overall-standings
Be sure to also follow the Crushers on Instagram/Facebook/X @LECrushers!
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