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FL Lake Erie Crushers

Crushers Fall at Home, Playoff Cushion Razor Thin

August 23, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


Avon, OH - For the second straight night, the Lake Erie Crushers (47-40) dropped a game by just a pair of runs, this time to the Washington Wild Things (61-26). With Schaumburg's win, the Crushers are now just 1.5 games ahead of the Boomers for the final playoff spot.

Washington got a big boom right off the bat in the 1st inning off LHP Darrien Ragins. DH Tyreque Reed launched a two-run home to blitz the Crushers after a leadoff walk to CF Caleb McNeely.

Ragins settled in nicely after the homer, though. He started slicing and dicing his way through the Washington lineup to the tune of a season-high 8 strikeouts.

However, RHP Zach Kirby was doing the same thing on the other side for Washington. He K'd up 11 Crushers through just six innings of work, a new career high.

The Crushers hadn't done much in the early innings, but they started to string hits together in the 5th. CF Jack Harris snuck an RBI single through the right side, and SS Jarrod Watkins lofted an RBI single to center to knot the game 2-2.

Ragins came back out for the 6th, but the Wild Things were waiting for him. 1B Andrew Czech ripped an RBI double into the right field corner to reclaim the lead for Washington, 3-2. RHP Christian Scafidi held the Wild Things to just the one run, coming in relief of Ragins and striking out Ethan Wilder to end the inning.

Ragin's final line: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 8 K.

The Wild Things managed to load the bases again in the 8th inning, but RHP Sammy Tavarez stood tall and finished off the pinch hitter, Ricardo Sanchez, with a strikeout to strand three again.

In the top of the 9th, CF Caleb McNeely, itching to swing the bat, cranked the first pitch off RHP Trevor Kuncl over the left-center field wall for his 20th homer of the season. The 440-foot blast gave Washington just a little extra cushion that proved big in the bottom of the 9th.

The Crushers started to churn with 1B Scout Knotts singling with one out and C Johnny Tuccillo drawing a walk to put the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate in Burle Dixon. It was Dixon's first at bat of the night after pinch running for Vincent Byrd Jr. earlier in the game. Dixon worked the count against closer, Gyeongju Kim, but Kim froze him with a 3-2 fastball on the inner third for the second out.

After just missing a walk-off homer on Tuesday, Jack Harris came up once more with a chance to be the ultimate hero. He nubbed a dribbler to the right side of the infield, sending 2B Jalen Miller way into the hole to his left. Miller threw off balance to first with Harris barreling down the line. It was bang-bang, but Harris was called out, much to the chagrin of everyone in the ballpark not wearing red and black. Jared Lemieux and Jerry Gonzalez were heated, but to no avail. The game was over. Washington snuck out, 4-2.

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

Washington Wild Things 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 9 0

Lake Erie Crushers 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 6 0

Another close loss for Lake Erie makes their playoff spot cushion razor thin. They'll come back once again against Washington on Saturday, August 24th at 7:05pm with Pedro Echemendia on the mound. It's Gameshow Night, but most importantly, it's a game with PLAYOFF BASEBALL IMPLICATIONS!

Come out, enjoy a great night of fireworks, games, prizes, and much more, but above all come out and support LORAIN COUNTY'S TEAM! We need YOU, the fan, to be in attendance as the Crushers try to make it to the Frontier League Playoffs for the first time since 2019.

Interested in attending? Yes, yes you are. Tickets can be found at the link provided below:

https://lakeeriecrushers.com/ single-game-tickets/

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!

Check out the Lake Erie Crushers Statistics

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Frontier League Stories from August 23, 2024


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