Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Home Woes Continue

Crushers drop second straight 7-4 decision to T-Bolts

Box Link: http://pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=542543

AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers came out on the wrong end of a 7-4 score on Saturday night at Mercy Health Stadium, as they dropped the second game of their series to the Windy City Thunderbolts.

For the Crushers (39-49) the loss was their seventh in their last eight games at home, while the win for the Thunderbolts (40-49) was their third straight over the Crushers.

There were lots of similarities to Friday night’s game, including the final score. Much like Friday, Lake Erie played from behind and erased a 3-0 deficit.

Windy City took advantage of two hits and a Crusher error in the second to score two runs. Brynn Martinez walked to start the inning and scored on an error later in the frame. Donivan Williams reached on a single to right field. During the play, Javier Betancourt’s errant throw to second base ended up in right field, allowing Martinez to score. Williams came around to score later in the inning on Payton Robertson’s RBI single.

Peyton Isaacson scored Windy City’s third run of the game on Zac Taylor’s RBI double in the top of the third.

Lake Erie began their comeback in the bottom of the third when Zach Racusin reached on a one out double and scored on Steve Passatempo’s RBI single to left. The Crushers added another run in the fifth inning on Nick Rotola’s two out RBI single to score Racusin.

The Crushers then took their first lead of the series by scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth inning. Javier Betancourt started the inning with a solo homer to left, his second in as many nights, giving him four on the season. Shawon Dunston Jr. reached on a walk before stealing second and third and scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.

As they had done a night before, Windy City was able to respond pretty quickly, as they plated three runs in the eighth inning to regain the lead. Four straight hits started the inning. Jack Strunc’s RBI single scored Taylor to tie the game at 4-4, before Williams belted a RBI double to bring Martinez home. Robertson’s sacrifice fly scored Strunc to cap the three run frame. The Thunderbolts added one last run in the ninth on Martinez’s two out RBI single to score Jace Mercer.

Neil Abatiello (3-4) scored the victory, despite allowing a pair of runs on two hits while walking three over two innings of relief while Braden Bonner (4) worked a scoreless ninth inning to get the save. Aaron Glickstein (4-5) allowed a pair of runs on four hits over two innings of work and took the loss.

Racusin led the way for Lake Erie offensively, going 3-for-5 and has now hit safely in 13 straight games. Rotola and Betancourt also hit safely twice on the night for the Crushers.

The Crushers and Thunderbolts will continue their four game series at Mercy Health Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Lefty Ryan Feierabend (8-5, 2.80) will start for the Crushers and the T-bolts will counter with left-hander Kenny Mathews (7-9, 4.85). The first pitch is scheduled for 2:05 PM.