Crushers Drop Pitcher's Duel in Game 1 of Divisional Series, Game 2 Saturday in Washington

Sports stats



FL Lake Erie Crushers

Crushers Drop Pitcher's Duel in Game 1 of Divisional Series, Game 2 Saturday in Washington

September 5, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


Avon, OH - The Lake Erie Crushers dropped Game 1 of the West Divisional Series against the Washington Wild Things in a classic pitcher's duel on Thursday. The series now moves to Washington, PA for Game 2 on Saturday at 6:35pm EST.

Washington's first two hitters were quickly set down in the top of the 2nd, but the bottom three in the order got to work with two outs. RF Brandon McIlwain slapped a single through the right side, then SS Ethan Wilder bounced a fly ball over the right field fence for a ground-rule double.

The nine-hitter, C Ricardo Sanchez, turned around an 0-1 pitch, serving it up the middle to score two runs. Washington took a 2-0 lead early.

Escobar settled in, finishing six innings of work with just those two runs against him. He struck out six in yet another quality start, but unfortunately for him, Kobe Foster was matching him stride for stride.

Foster made it through seven innings, only surrendering three hits - two singles to DH Vincent Byrd Jr. and a double by 2B Alberti Chavez. His scoreless outing put Washington in a prime position with a fully rested bullpen ready to go.

The Wild Things made a bid for some insurance runs in the 7th with men on 2nd and 3rd and one out against RHP Christian Scafidi. Scafidi stared down the Frontier League MVP, CF Caleb McNeely, in a high-leverage spot and broke off a nasty 3-2 curveball to get a strikeout. Scafidi retired 3B Tommy Caufield with another strikeout, stranding men in scoring position.

Both RHP Sammy Tavarez and RHP Trevor Kuncl combined for scoreless innings in the 8th and 9th, but the Crushers offense remained dormant against Washington's RHP Christian James, and closer RHP Gyeongju Kim.

Kim recorded the save in a 1-2-3 ninth innings and the Wild Things walked away with a 2-0 win in Game 1.

Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E

Washington Wild Things 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 0

Lake Erie Crushers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0

Game 2 of the West Divisional Series will be on Saturday, September 7th at 6:35pm EST in Washington, PA. The Crushers will send out Jack Eisenbarger in a must-win game. The Wild Things will toss the righty, Zach Kirby.

For the first time this season, Lake Erie will have an Away broadcast. Zane Bloom will be on the call, and you can catch all the action on FLOBaseball.tv.

Be sure to follow the Crushers @LECrushers on Facebook/Instagram/X!

Check out the Lake Erie Crushers Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Frontier League message board...

Frontier League Stories from September 5, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central