Avon, OH —It’s time to bring out the brooms (or perhaps the windshield wipers), because the Lake Erie Crushers (31-17) have found a clean sweep against the Windy City Thunderbolts (20-29) in a rain-shortened finale. They win 2-0 in 5 innings.
With the win, the Crushers are now the top team in the Frontier League and remain .5 games up on Washington for 1st place in the West.
Crushers starter, RHP Matt Mulhearn, was clean on the mound, going five innings while giving up no runs to set up the series sweep. He finished with a line of 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K on 57 pitches.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 4th inning. LF Ronald Washington hit a ground-rule double to get the Crushers going. After he lit a spark, RF Jack Harris popped a singled and took second on the throw to set up 2nd and 3rd with one out.
Washington then crossed home plate on a passed ball by Windy City catcher, JJ Figueroa. Jack Harris would score on an RBI fielder’s choice by CF Burle Dixon moments later to make the score 2-0.
Then…the rains came, and the Lake Erie offense would not see the plate again.
With the rains coming down hard in the top of the 5th, Matt Mulhearn worked quickly to get the final out of the inning to make an official game – a gutsy, headsy effort.
The game went into a weather delay at 8:02 p.m. EST. With the radar showing rain until later in the night, a decision was made to call the game after 5 innings. The Crushers’ two runs in the bottom of the 4th made the rain-shortened win possible.
Mulhearn (3-3) gets the win, and Mikolaicyk (2-2) gets the loss in the wet finale on the 4th of July.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windy City ThunderBolts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Lake Erie Crushers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | X | 2 | 3 | 1 |
The Crushers head on the road to match up against the New Jersey Jackals to kickstart a three-game series on Friday, July 5. The first pitch is set for 6:35p.m. from Hinchliffe Stadium in Little Falls, New Jersey.
Can’t join us at the ballpark? No worries! You can stream the Lake Erie Crushers all season long at FloSports.tv.
Frontier League Standings: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/overall-standings
Be sure to also follow the Crushers on Instagram/Facebook/X @LECrushers!
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