Avon, Ohio – Break out the brooms on Superhero Day! Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear purple jerseys, white caps, and tight baseball pants (Captain America knows all about the pants).
The Lake Erie Crushers (18-9) stay scorching hot at home with a 3-2 win over the Trois-Rivieres Aigles (12-14), completing their second home sweep of the season.
Coming off back-to-back shutouts on Friday and Saturday, the pitching staff got right back to work on Sunday. LHP Darrien Ragins was excellent, going six strong innings in his fourth start of the 2024 season.
Trois-Rivieres’ starter was just as good. RHP Tucker Smith pitched into the 8th inning and kept the Aigles in the game. However, history would repeat itself in the bottom of the 3rd.
Crushers LF Ronald Washington was the Rebel hero on Friday, blowing up the Death Star on Star Wars Night. On Sunday, he redirected a nuclear warhead away from New York City and over the left field wall at Crushers stadium (exactly like Iron Man did in Avengers). A hero in his own right on Superhero Day at the ballpark. His solo blast would give Lake Erie a 1-0 lead – dejavu from Friday.
The following batter, 3B Logan Thomason, got on base by an error to keep the pressure on Smith. Then, CF Burle Dixon sent a moonshot off the right-field scoreboard for a two-run home run to extend the lead further. Dixon’s 2nd homer of 2024 gave the Crushers a 3-0 lead coming out of the third inning.
The Lake Erie lead would stand until the top of the 7th.
After a couple of walks, the Aigles finally broke one across the plate with a two-run triple by RF Steve Brown, their first runs of the series.
With a slim 3-2 lead and just one out in the 7th, Jared Lemieux called on RHP Christian Scafidi to find the final two outs. Scafidi induced a check-swing grounder to himself, tagging out C Mario Feliciano for the exceptionally rare “1-unassisted” – no advance from Brown on third. Then a soft popup to 3B Logan Thomason off the bat of 2B Brandon Hernandez quelled the threat. The Crushers escaped the Kyln (or the 7th inning at least) with the lead.
In the 8th, Crushers relief pitcher RHP Sammy Tavarez hit 1B Brendon Dadson before DH L.P. Pelletier advanced him to third with a single and just one out. Pitching coach Jonathan Albaladejo came out for a mound visit, then allowed Tavarez to go back to work.
1B Dalton Combs grounded a ball weakly to first, which likely could have scored Dadson from third, but Dadson hesitated, allowing 1B Scout Knotts to step on the base for out number two. A costly mistake to not go to the contact play for Trois-Rivieres, as 3B Luis Curbelo would ground out to end the inning. Tavarez dropped the hammer on the Aigles scoring threat, reminiscent of Thor dropping Mjolnir on unsuspecting enemies.
It wouldn’t be a superhero movie without more drama, though. The top of the 9th was up to closer RHP Trevor Kuncl to the job and get the sweep for Lake Erie. After a leadoff walk and a wild pitch, Kuncl would get a weak popup to third base, then cut off the final two hitters with strikeouts to secure the 3-2 victory and the series sweep of the Trois-Rivieres Aigles.
Looking grim at times, the Crushers bullpen “Spiderman snatched” the scoring chances away from the Aigles when it mattered most.
The Crushers have now won all five home series at Crushers Stadium this season, with the sweep of Trois-Rivieres their second of 2024 (Joliet Slammers May 14-16).
Lake Erie now turns its attention to the No. 1 team in the Frontier League West, the Schaumburg Boomers. The two sides will clash on Tuesday, June 11, at 6:30 P.M. CDT from Wintrust Field to kickstart a three-game road series, their second in Schaumburg this season. With the wins over the weekend, the Crushers sit just .5 games back of Schaumburg and Washington for the top spot in the West.
| Score by Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Trois-Rivieres Aigles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| Lake Erie Crushers | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 3 | 4 | 0 |
Frontier League Standings: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/overall-standings
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