Lake Erie Crushers News & Game Recaps

Three in a Row

Crushers score third straight win in 5-2 victory

Box Link: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/boxscores/20230609_36h6.xml

AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers scored their third straight victory at Mercy Health Stadium on Friday night, as they held Windy City to just five hits in a 5-2 win over the Thunderbolts.

The Crushers (12-13) have now won four out of their last five games, while the loss for Windy City (9-16) was their fourth straight.

Both teams exchanged blows in the first inning. Jake Boone blasted a solo homer to left in the top of the first inning to give Windy City the early 1-0 advantage. In the bottom of the inning, Todd Issacs Jr. walked, stole second, and advanced to third on Santiago Chirino’s groundout. Isaacs scored later in the inning on a wild pitch to tie the game.

Lake Erie took the lead in the bottom of the third inning and never looked back. Chirino was hit by a pitch with two outs, and he came around to score from first base on Gabe Snyder’s RBI double off the wall in center.

The Crushers added two more in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jiandido Tromp walked to start the inning and Jarrod Watkins followed with a bunt base hit. Kenen Irizarry drove Tromp home on a RBI single, and Sean Cheely was hit by a pitch to load the bases. John Tuccillo then grounded into a 4-3 double play which allowed Watkins to score.

Windy City plated their final run of the game in the top of the seventh. Junior Martina began the inning with a double and scored on Paul Coumoulos’s sacrifice fly.

Lake Erie added a big insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, when Jack Harris smashed a solo homer to right, his second of the homestand and his third of the season to give the Crushers a 5-2 lead.

Nathan Holt (2-1) picked up the win for the Crushers after allowing a run on just one hit with three strikeouts over three innings of relief. Holt followed JD Hammer who made his second start of the season and allowed just a run on three hits with five strikeouts over four innings. Brayden Bonner held the Crusher lead in check with a scoreless eighth inning and Alexis Rivero (4) picked up his third save in as many nights with a scoreless ninth inning.

Chirino reached twice on the night for Lake Erie and Tromp reached safely three times, extending his on base streak to 16 games.

The Crushers will continue their series with the Windy City Thunderbolts at Mercy Health Stadium on Saturday evening. Lefty Kyle Seebach (0-2, 5.01) will get the start for the Crushers and the Thunderbolts will counter with right-hander Cole Bellair (1-4, 5.23). The first pitch is scheduled for 6:05 PM.