Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Offensive Explosion

Lake Erie offense launches 3 homers in 13-4 win over Trois Rivieres

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AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers homered three times and capitalized on 10 free passes on Saturday night at Mercy Health Stadium, as they won their first game of the season, defeating Trois Rivieres Aigles, 13-4.

The Crushers (1-1) hit three homers on the night, including a pair from Jarrod Watkins and took advantage of 10 walks issued by Trois Rivieres (1-1) on a night where the two teams combined to hit six homers.

Lake Erie scored five times in the second inning to take a lead that they would never surrender. Kokko Figueiredo belted a two out RBI single to left field to score the game’s first run. Two batters later, Kenen Irizarry smashed a Grand Slam that sailed over the wall in right field.

The Crushers added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Watkins hit his first of two homers on the night, a solo shot that cleared the wall in left to put Lake Erie in front, 6-0.

Lake Erie plated four more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Ermindo Escobar and Danny Perez smacked back-to-back RBI doubles before Watkins struck again, belting his second homer of the night, a two run shot over the wall in right field to give Lake Erie a 10-0 lead.

Trois Riveieres belted a pair of solo shots in the top of the sixth inning to get on the board, as Louis-Phillipe Pelletier and Joe Campagna both went deep.

The Crushers scored their final three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jack Harris drove in a pair of runs on a double down the line in left and scored later in the inning when Escobar hit into a double play.

Trois Rivieres scored their third run of the night in the eighth inning when Juan Kelly belted a solo homer to left and Elliot Curtis brought their final run home in the ninth inning on a RBI double.

Julio Vivas (1-0) picked up the victory for the Crushers. In six innings of work, he allowed just a pair of runs on seven hits while fanning eight batters in the process. Wes Albert tossed the final three innings for the Crushers, allowing two runs on four hits. Kyle Bell (0-1) took the loss for Trois Rivieres after allowing five runs on two hits with four walks and six strikeouts over three innings.

Every Crusher batter in the starting lineup reached safely at least once, while seven reached safely multiple times. Watkins led the way going 2-for-2 with the two homers and a pair of walks as well. Harris turned in a multi-hit game as well, going 2-for-5.

The Crushers will finish their series with Trois Rivieres Aigles at Mercy Health Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Kaleb Schmidt will get the start for the Crushers and lefty David Gauthier will start for Trois Rivieres. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:05 PM.