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FL Lake Erie Crushers

Close call: Crushers lose another tightly contested battle

May 25, 2013 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


O'FALLON, Mo. -- The Lake Erie Crushers received a strong start from Spencer Clifft in his professional debut at T.R. Hughes Ballpark on Saturday night, but it was not enough as the Crushers fell to the River City Rascals, 4-2.

Clifft tossed six strong innings, and allowed just a pair of runs on four hits while striking out two. He surrendered both runs in the first inning, but kept a clean slate through the next five frames. The loss for Lake Erie (3-5) was their second in a row while the victory for the Rascals (6-2) was their third straight.

For the second night in a row, the Rascals jumped on the board in the home half of the first inning. Eric Williams began the inning with a base hit, and made his way to third moments later on a one out double from former Crusher Jason Taylor. Phil Wunderlich drove Williams home on a sacrifice fly, and Jake Atwell drove in the last run on a base hit.

Lake Erie got on the board in the top of the fourth inning. Daniel Bowman extended his on base streak to seven games with a one out double, and he scored later in the inning on a two-out double to left off the bat of Emmanuel Quilles.

The Crushers scored the tying run in the seventh inning, but spoiled an opportunity to take the lead. Juan Sanchez began the inning with a base hit, and Max Casper followed with a single through the left side of the infield to put runners at the corners with nobody out. Guantlett Eldemire then reached on a fielder's choice which scored Sanchez to tie the game.

Lake Erie then executed a hit and run with Eldemire at first, as Kevin Berard stroked a single through the right side of the infield. The Crushers had runners on first and third with one out, and a chance to snap a 2-2 tie, but River City reliever Nick Kennedy came through in a huge spot to retire Andrew Davis and Bowman consecutively to keep the game tied at 2-2.

The Rascals scored twice to take the lead in the eighth. Will Block started the inning with a single, before Williams reached on a free pass. Curran Redal laid a sacrifice bunt down to advance Block and Redal, and the Crushers intentionally walked Taylor to load the bases. Wunderlich came through again, with a sacrifice fly to score the go ahead run, and Atwell followed with a run scoring single to cap the inning.

Michael Jahns (0-1) took the loss for the Crushers in his first appearance of the season. He allowed two runs on one hit over 1.1 innings of action. Gabe Shaw (1-0) scored the victory for River City, retiring five out of the six batters he faced over 1.2 innings of work with a pair of strikeouts.

Eldemire singled in the fifth inning to extend his hitting streak to seven games, while Bowman and Russ Moldenhauer each reached, to extend their on base streaks to seven games. Anderson Hidalgo doubled in the second inning, and has now hit safely in five straight games.

The Crushers will finish their three game series against the River City Rascals at T.R. Hughes Ballpark on Sunday night. The Crushers will start lefty Dave Middendorf (1-0, 6.75), and the Rascals will throw right hander Casey Barnes (1-0, 2.46). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

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