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 Lake Erie Crushers

Crushers see early lead disappear in 7-5 loss to Otters

July 11, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The Lake Erie Crushers were unable to hold on to an early 3-0 lead at Bosse Field on Saturday evening, as the Evansville Otters came back to take the second game of the series, 7-5.

The loss for the Crushers (19-28) was their sixth in eight games against the Otters (32-18) this season, while the victory for Evansville gives them four in their last five games.

While the Crushers stormed out to an early 3-0 lead through the first inning and a half, the Otters put together an incredible two-out rally to score five times in the second inning and pulled away.

Austin Prott began the game with a double to right field, and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a balk. Anderson Hidalgo reached on a walk, and came around to score the second run of the inning on Jose Barraza's RBI single.

Turner Gill walked to start the top of the second inning, and made his way to second on a single from Trevor Stevens. Cody Stevens laid a sacrifice bunt down to advance both base runners, and Prott drove Gill home on a groundout.

The first five Otters were retired by Rob Blanc (0-4), before the Otters went to work with two outs in the bottom of the second. Nik Balog got it started, winning an eight pitch battle with Blanc on a single to center. A walk was issued to Kurt Wertz, before JD Dorgan was hit by a pitch. Cory Urquhart followed with a two-run single to get the Otters on the board. John Schultz walked to load the bases again, and Blanc plunked Josh Allen to bring in the tying run. Kolby Moore replaced Blanc, and surrendered a two-run single to Shayne Houck, which snapped the 3-3 tie.

Evansville would tack on two more runs, getting them both on solo homeruns. Schultz belted a solo shot to right field in the fourth inning, his eighth of the year, and Chris Sweeney hit his eighth bomb of the year with one out in the eighth.

Lake Erie pushed two more runs across in the top of the seventh inning, but had the opportunity to do so much more. Juan Sanchez reached on a one out infield single, and advanced to third on Anderson Hidalgo's double. A passed ball scored Sanchez, before Barraza and Joey Burney were both hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Connor Little came on with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh inning, and walked Chandler Brock, which brought the Crushers within one (6-5). However, Little was able to get himself out of the jam, as he retired the next two batters and the Crushers left the bases loaded.

Tyler Vail (5-2) scored the win for the Otters, tossing 6.1 innings of action and allowed five runs, four earned on six hits. Edgar Lopez (15) worked a perfect ninth inning to snag the save, while Blanc was handed the loss after allowing five runs on only two hits over 1.2 innings of work.

Every Crusher in the starting lineup reached safely at least once. Prott reached twice and extended his on base streak to 15 games. Sanchez's seventh inning single extended his hitting streak to 14 games, and he reached three times on the evening. Barraza's RBI single in the first inning marked his fifth straight game with both a hit and a RBI.

The Crushers will finish their three game series with the Evansville Otters as Bosse Field in Evansville, Ind., on Sunday night. Right-hander Brad Duffy (5-2, 3.81) will start for the Crushers and the Otters will counter with left-hander Efrain Nieves (6-2, 2.88). The first pitch is scheduled for 6:05 PM.

The Lake Erie Crushers, the 2009 Frontier League Champions, and 2011 Frontier League Organization of the year, play ball at All Pro Freight Stadium, a 5,000 capacity stadium located in Avon, Ohio. The Frontier League is an independent baseball league with 14 teams operating throughout the Midwest. Season tickets for the 2015 season are on sale now! For more information on tickets, promotions and team news, visit the team website at www.LakeErieCrushers.com or call 440-934-3636.


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