AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers, presented by Mercy Health, lost to the Windy City Thunderbolts at Ozinga Field on Saturday night, by a score of 4-2 to drop game two of the three-game series.
The loss for the Crushers (9-5) marks their second loss in the last four days, while the Thunderbolts (7-8) get one win closer to the .500 mark.
Dylan Mouzakes (1-1) started for Lake Erie and is credited with the loss. Mouzakes threw 5.0 innings and gave up four earned runs off of seven hits, walked two, and struck out one. Adam Oller (2-1) was the star of the night. Oller threw 8.0 innings, gave up two runs, only one earned, off five hits and struck out 15 Crushers batters. Dylan Prohoroff (3) earned the save after throwing a scoreless ninth inning.
The Thunderbolts offense put up two runs in the bottom of the first to take an early lead. The runs came off the bat of Dash Winningham when he hit a two-out two-run homer. The Crushers would not answer back until the top of the fourth inning. James Davison Jr. led off the inning with a single and would advance to second base after Oller overthrew Dash Winningham at first in a pick-off attempt. With two outs and Davison Jr. on second, Dale Burdick hit an RBI double to make the score 2-1.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Thunderbolts would extend their lead to 4-1. Tyler Straub reached on a one out double and would come around to score off David Oppenheim’s RBI single. Tyler Alamo followed Oppenheim’s single with a hit of his own to put runners on first and second. Winningham would step up again for Windy City and hit an RBI single to score Oppenheim. In the top of the eighth inning, Lake Erie put up their second run of the game. Steven Kraft hit a lead-off triple, then one batter later Bryan De La Rosa scored Kraft on an RBI ground out to make the score 4-2.
The Crushers offense had trouble when two strikes were on. Eight out of the nine batters for the Crushers recorded at least one strike out. However, Lake Erie still had some production from a few of their hitters. Davison Jr. as he ended the day going 1-4 with a run scored. Burdick’s final line read 1-4 with an RBI, and Zach Racusin ended the day going 1-3 to continue his seven-game hitting streak. Kraft ended his day 1-3 with a triple and De La Rosa went 0-3 with an RBI.
The Lake Erie Crushers, the 2009 Frontier League Champions, and 2011 Frontier League Organization of the year, play ball at Sprenger Health Care Stadium, a 5,000 capacity stadium located in Avon, Ohio. The Frontier League is an independent baseball league with 10 teams operating throughout the Midwest. For more information on tickets, promotions and team news, visit the team website at www.LakeErieCrushers.com or call 440-934-3636.
