AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers, presented by Mercy Health, beat the Washington Wild Things at Consol Energy Park on Saturday night, by a score of 3-2 to win the second game of the three-game series.
The win for the Crushers (6-2) is their third consecutive win in a row, while the Wild Things (2-7) lose their seventh game of the Summer out of their first 10.
Pat Ledet (1-0) won his second start as he dominated and threw 8.0 innings, gave up only two earned runs off of four hits, walked one, and struck out seven Wild Things batters. The win is his first of the summer and now has a stellar ERA of 1.28 over his first two starts. Kent Hasler (1) earned his first save of the Summer as he threw a scoreless ninth inning. Nick Wegmann (0-2) earns his second loss of the season in his second start for Washington. Wegmann threw 5.0 innings giving up three earned runs off of five hits, walked three, and struck out three Lake Erie batters.
The offense for both teams was slow to start. Washington got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth inning when J.J. Fernandez hit a two-out two RBI homerun off Ledet. Other than that one swing by Fernandez, Ledet held Washington’s offense in check the entire game. Lake Erie did not put up a run until the top of the sixth inning when they scored all three of their runs. The inning started out with a back-to-back singles by Emmanuel Marrero, and Dale Burdick. With no outs and runners at first and second, Jake Vieth smacked an RBI double to score Marrero. Washington then went to the bullpen to try and secure the three outs in the sixth. James Meeker came in for relief of Wegmann and after a 10-pitch at-bat, gave up an RBI single to Zach Racusin. With a 2-2 score, Steven Kraft then hit an RBI sacrifice fly to score Vieth and give the Crushers the 3-2 lead.
The one run lead proved to be enough for Ledet as he would go one to pitch through the eighth inning. Because of the quality start from Ledet, the Crushers only had to use two pitchers in the game to seal the victory. Marrero continues his hot start to the summer as he went 1-5 with the first run scored of the game for Lake Erie. In the three-hole Dale Burdick finished his day going 1-3 with a run scored. Vieth opened up the scoring for Lake Erie in the bottom of the sixth and finished the day going 1-3 with an RBI double and a run scored. Racusin ended his day going 1-3 with an RBI, while Kraft’s final line read 0-1 with two walks, and an RBI sacrifice fly.
The Crushers will continue the three-game series with the Washington Wild Things at Consol Energy Park in Washington, PA on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Dylan Mouzakes will take the mound for the Crushers. The Wild Things will counter with right-hander Carter Johnson. The first pitch is scheduled for 5:40 PM.
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.
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