Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Sunday, July 23, 2023

Box Score – https://www.frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/boxscores/20230723_2s1u.xml 

JOLIET, IL  – The Lake Erie Crushers dropped the series finale to the Joliet Slammers 11-3.

The Crushers (25-35) have concluded their six-game road series and will head home after the loss to the Slammers (27-33), which marks their ninth straight rubber-match defeat. 

Lake Erie jumped on the board first in the top of the second inning. Jack Harris singled then stole second with one out. In his Crushers debut, Scout Knotts doubled to left-center and picked up his first RBI. Josh Rego stepped to the plate with two away and doubled down the left field line, making it a 2-0 game.

The Slammers would strike back in the bottom of the frame. With runners on first and second and one away Matt McGarry hit a ball into the gap which scored two and put him on second base. Two batters later, Scott Holzwasse hit an RBI single to left, giving Joliet the lead. 

They never looked back, and in the next inning, the Slammers added on another with a GJ Hill home run. The backbreaker came in the bottom of the fourth when a handful of Joliet hitters scored and split the game open.

The bases were loaded with one out, and Phillip Steering singled to left field, scoring a run. Zach Biermann hit a bases-clearing double to the right-center field gap. Then, Hill homered to right field for his second of the day, making it 9-2. 

The Crushers got one back in the top of the seventh, thanks to a Kemuel Thomas-Rivera homer to left field. It was his third blast of the year, but it would finalize the scoring for Lake Erie.

Hill came up in the bottom of the eighth inning and homered again, making it a hat trick of bombs for the Joliet right fielder. At this point, it was 11-3, and a disappointing defeat for Lake Erie was becoming finalized. 

Yasel Santana (2-4) picked up the loss after going 3.2 innings allowing nine runs on eight hits. Cole Cook (5-2) earned the win after going 6.0 innings while allowing a pair of runs and seven knocks.

It is almost August, and the Crushers are still winless in a series on the road. The club has dropped their last eight out of 12 games. They will be back on their home turf to play the Evansville Otters on Tuesday, with an off day tomorrow. The first pitch of their new series will be at 11:05 AM ET.