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FL Lake Erie Crushers

Crushers avoid sweep in extra inning win

July 13, 2014 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The Lake Erie Crushers brought the first half of the season to an end with a 3-2 victory over the Evansville Otters in 10 innings at Bosse Field on Sunday night.

The victory for the Crushers (27-24) was their sixth in seven extra inning games, the top mark in the Frontier League, while the loss for the Otters (30-19) was just their second in their last seven games.

Lake Erie led on three separate occasions throughout the night, but finally closed the deal in the 10th inning on Anderson Hidalgo's double off the wall in center which plated Vince Mejia for the eventual game winner.

The Crushers made Evansville starting pitcher Blake Monar work in the first inning, as he threw 28 pitches in the opening frame. Emmanuel Quiles reached on a one out single through the right side before walks were issued to Andrew Davis and Anderson Hidalgo to load the bases. Later in the inning, Qulies scored the game's first run on a wild pitch.

Lake Erie starting pitcher Trevor Longfellow made his first start of the season, and retired the first 11 batters he faced, until Shayne Houck belted a solo homer, his third of the series, and his 13th of the season in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 1-1.

The game remained tied at 1-1 until the bottom of the Lake Erie order capitalized on the game's only error in the top of the seventh. Matt Dickason reached on a throwing error by third baseman Jeremy Nowack, advancing to second on the play. A few pitches later, Joey Burney singled into right field to score Dickason.

Evansville came back to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. JR Higley reached on a base hit back up the middle with one out, and advanced to second after a walk was issued to John Schultz. Phillip Wilson then singled through the middle of the infield to score Higley. With the go-ahead run on third, Jason Wilson induced an inning ending 6-4-3 double play.

Lake Erie's offense went to work again in the top of the 10th inning. Mejia reached on a one-out single through the left side of the infield, and scored all the way from first on Hidalgo's double off the wall in center field.

Evansville put one last threat together in the bottom of the 10th. Chris Sweeney reached on a single to start the inning and made his way to second on a wild pitch. Nowack's groundout put him on third when Ryan Connolly (1) was called on to preserve the lead, and he did just that by striking out David Cruz, and got Wilson to pop out to end the game.

Brad Duffy (1-1) struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth inning and came away with the win, while Connolly earned the save by getting the final two outs with the tying run on third. Anthony Collazo (0-1) took the loss after allowing a run on two hits over 1.2 innings of work.

Four Crushers reached multiple times on the night, including Hidalgo who led the way, reaching four times in five plate appearances. Hidalgo walked twice, and went 2-for-3 with a base hit and the game winning double.

The Crushers are off for the next four days, for the 2014 Frontier League All Star Break. They will not be in action again until they host the Florence Freedom at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio, on Friday, July 18. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 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 2014 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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