Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Crushers squander lead; Lose fourth straight series

Box Score: pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=542294

WASHINGTON, Pennsylvania – The Lake Erie Crushers entered Thursday with one thought on their minds: defeat Washington. Lake Erie was having all of the fun early on until the Wild Things cruised back from a five-run deficit.

The Crushers got the scoring underway in the opening frame. Trevor Achenbach sent Zach Racusin home on an RBI single. Brody Wofford pushed Achenbach across home plate on a two-out double.

That pair of runs were added on to in the second. A sharp-looking double off the bat of Racusin escorted Shawon Dunston Jr. home safely. The Crushers entertained a 3-0 after the opening two innings.

It wasn’t until the sixth inning when Lake Erie plated the next runs. Javier Betancourt belted a double to score Bryan DeLaRosa, followed by a Dunston Jr. run-scoring single to put the Lake Erie tally at five.

Washington answered in its half of the sixth, plating three. A two-run home run off the bat of Tristan Peterson helped the process of scoring in the half-inning. The bottom of the seventh contained four runs for the Wild Things. With the game tied, Grant Heyman blasted a two-run shot to give the hometown Washington squad a 7-5 lead.

In the top of the ninth, Zach Strecker entered the game and faced the minimum to record his 16th save of the season.

Dillon Larsen pitched a beauty for the Crushers. He went 5 1/3 innings, surrendering four hits and one run while fanning five Wild Things.

Jesus Balaguer (2-3) fought to victory in relief for Washington. Taylor Sugg (3-3) was roughed up and was deemed the loser in the contest.

Dunston Jr. went 6-10 in the series with a double. Racusin saw himself go 5-10 in his first series with the Crushers this year.

The night does not get better for the Lake Erie Crushers. Last week’s Frontier League Player of the Week, Connor Oliver, suffered a season-ending leg injury in the opening inning.

The Crushers (34-40) sit five games back of the Schaumburg Boomers in the Central Division.

Lake Erie and Washington will switch venues and play another three-game set over the weekend. Mercy Health Stadium will host the series as game one is set for the first pitch at 7:05 pm.