No Sweep on Sunday
Crushers avoid sweep with great pitching in 1-0 victory
AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers, presented by Mercy Health, avoided a three game sweep at the hands of the River City Rascals on Sunday afternoon at Sprenger Stadium, as the trio of Jared Koenig, Seth Lucio and Logan Lombana combined to toss a four hit shutout in a 1-0 Crusher victory.
The shutout victory was Lake Erie’s (38-32) second on the current six game home stand, and their sixth of the season, while the loss for the Rascals (40-33) ruined what would have been their first sweep of the season.
Jared Koenig (6-1) was terrific once again. The big lefty tossed seven scoreless innings of four hit ball and walked two while striking out six batters to earn his second victory of the home stand. Koenig tossed 12 scoreless innings in his two starts during Lake Erie’s six day stay at home.
Seth Lucio worked a scoreless eighth inning and needed just eight pitches to retire the only three batters he faced, before Logan Lombana (6) worked a scoreless ninth inning to grab the save.
Jake Vieth provided the game’s only run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Vieth smacked his 10th homer of the season, belting Taylor Ahearn’s (2-3) 1-0 pitch over the wall in right field to score the game’s only run. The homer was the only one the Crushers hit on the six game home stand.
Ahearn took the hard luck loss for the Rascals. He pitched a complete game, going eight innings, and allowed just a run on four hits while striking out nine in the loss.
Lake Erie pitching was incredibly good on Sunday afternoon. Not only did they not surrender a run, but the Rascals never got to third base in the contest and they had just two base runners get into scoring position.
Aaron Hill went 1-for-4 with a double and has now reached in seven straight games, and 19 out of his last 20. Steven Kraft singled in his first at bat, going 1-for-3 on the day, extending his on base streak to 27 games in the process. Dre Hubbard doubled in the second inning, going 1-for-3, and has hit safely in four straight games.
The Crushers are off on Monday but will begin a three game series on the road against the Evansville Otters on Tuesday night. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:35 PM.
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