Avon, OH – The Lake Erie Crushers (30-17) set off some early fireworks against the Windy City Thunderbolts (20-28) before the biggest fireworks display in Lorain County on Wednesday night, winning in shutout fashion, 6-0.
Crushers starter, LHP Darrien Ragins, was excellent, going six innings of scoreless ball to set up a series victory for Lake Erie. His final line: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 K. From the jump in the first inning, Ragins was spotting his pitches nicely, inducing a lot of weak contact all game long.
On the first pitch of the 4th, 1B Vincent Byrd Jr. sent a no-doubter into deep center field for the game’s opening run. The home run was his 8th of the year, and it gave the Crushers a 1-0 lead.
Little was to be said about Windy City’s offensive output. The three hits they managed against Ragins in his six innings didn’t amount to any runs. Ragins would give the ball to RHP Christian Scafidi for the 7th.
As usual, he was elite on the mound. He easily marched through three batters to keep the game in the hands of the home side, pushing his season ERA to below 1.00 and his WHIP to under 0.930.
In the bottom of the 7th, SS Jarrod Watkins tagged a ball into right field that eluded the glove of RF Kingston Liniak. C John Tuccillo would come in to score to make it 2-0.
The Crushers were not done with the fun just yet. 3B Logan Thomason got on base with a walk before C Alfredo Gonzalez and Byrd Jr. were hit by pitches. Suddenly, the bases were loaded. Next up to the plate was the Thunderbolt killer, LF Ronald Washington Jr., who left the yard in Tuesday’s 9-5 win.
Anyone who knows anything about Avon, Ohio knows that when it rains, it pours. Windy City’s LHP Jack Mahoney served a 2-1 fastball to Washington, and he didn’t miss it. Washington let it get deep and crushed it to the opposite field, clearing the wall by just a few feet for a grand slam. The five run 7th inning put the Crushers up 6-0, and that was all she wrote at Crushers Stadium on Wednesday.
Lake Erie’s Christian Scafidi, RHP Leonardo Rodriguez, and LHP Garrett Coe combined for three no-hit innings in relief and secured the series victory over Windy City.
The Crushers’ bullpen as a whole has been on an other-worldly tear recently. Crushers relievers haven’t given up a run in 15.1 innings dating back to June 27. In that span, they’ve given up just six (6) hits. As if the starters aren’t hard enough to put runs against, the Lake Erie bullpen is nearly untouchable.
Darrien Ragins (5-0) gets the win, and Buddie Pindel (5-3) of Windy City gets tagged with the loss despite pitching very well.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windy City ThunderBolts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Lake Erie Crushers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | X | 6 | 10 | 0 |
Lake Erie now shifts gears to the series finale on Thursday, July 4. With postgame fireworks to follow, the first pitch is set to begin at 7:05 p.m. from Crushers Stadium in Avon, Ohio. After a long day of good old-fashioned American celebrations, cap off your day by joining us at the ballpark for baseball, fireworks, and half-off all Great Lake Brewing products!
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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