On a roll at home
Crushers capitalize on two errors in 2-1 win
AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers, presented by Mercy Health, capitalized on some great pitching and a pair of Schaumburg errors as they took care of business at Sprenger Healthcare Stadium on Friday night in a 2-1 win over the Boomers.
The victory the Crushers (49-39) was their fourth in a row, and their sixth in their last seven games, putting their magic number to clinch the while East Division at four, while the loss for the Boomers (43-45) was a big one, as they are now six games behind the Crushers with eight games left in the season.
A trio of Crusher pitchers stole the show, as Sam Curtis (1-1), Kent Hasler and Dalton Geekie (3) held the Boomers to just a run on five hits, and struck the Boomers out 11 times on the evening.
Schaumburg fired the first shot in the top of the third. Curtis struck out six batters the first time through the order, and didn’t surrender a hit until Luis Roman smashed a solo homer over the wall in right, his second of the year to give the Boomers a 1-0 advantage.
Lake Erie tied the game by scoring an unearned run in the top of the fourth. Emmanuel Marrero reached on first baseman Quincy Nieporte’s error. Dale Burdick made the error sting moments later as he belted a double down the line in left to score Marrero and tie the game.
The Crushers capitalized on another Schaumburg error to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Brody Wofford reached on a single to center to start the inning, and two batters later he made his way to second on Zach Racusin’s base hit to center. Aaron Hill then hit a ground ball to third, which was handled by Matt Rose as he threw out Racusin at second base. However, Roman’s relay throw from second bounced past the first baseman Nieporte and ended up in foul territory, allowing Wofford to score the eventual game winning run.
The Boomers put one last threat together in the top of the eighth inning. They had the bases loaded with one out, when Hasler worked his way out of the jam by getting Jack Parenty to line out to short, and Nieporte ended the inning with a groundout.
Curtis scored his first victory of the season with the Crushers, after limiting the Boomers to just a run on three hits and struck out seven batters over 5.2 innings of work. Hasler worked 2.2 innings of scoreless relief and Geekie tossed a perfect ninth inning to secure the save. Schaumburg’s Gunnar Kines (6-6) took the hard luck loss after allowing two unearned runs on seven hits over 7.2 innings of work while striking out 10.
The Crushers will continue their three game series with the Boomers at Sprenger Healthcare Stadium on Saturday night. Lefty Pat Ledet (6-4, 2.12) will start for the Crushers and the Boomers will follow with left-hander Connor Reed (4-7, 4.40). The first pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
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