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FL Lake Erie Crushers

Crushers Fall in Extra Innings

May 27, 2009 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


Crestwood, IL. - For the second consecutive game, the Lake Erie Crushers were beaten with a walk-off home run at Standard Bank Stadium as the Windy City Thunderbolts prevailed in 12 innings by the final of 8-7. Windy City DH Bryan Cook led off the bottom of the 12th with the game winning shot off of Crushers right-hander Cristobal Mata.

"It's the nature of pro baseball to get your resiliency tested and that's the case for us right now," said Lake Erie manager John Massarelli.

It was another back and fourth game between Lake Erie and Windy City. The Crushers started fast in the first inning as second baseman Andrew Saylor hit a solo home run, his first of the year. Left fielder Tim Binkoski followed with a run scoring double. The Thunderbolts put three on the board in the bottom of the first to take a 3-2 lead.

Lake Erie scored three more times in the third as first baseman Gordon Gronkowski slugged a three run homer and centerfielder Wayne Bond added a solo shot to give the Crushers a 6-3 advantage. Windy City scored twice in the fifth and two more times in the eighth to regain the lead.

The Crushers refused to quit as they struck for the tying run in the top of the ninth when pinch hitter Andrew Davis smashed a double to score Jesse Gibson all the way from first. That made the score 7-7, which it would stay until Cook's game winning homer in the 12th.

Windy City reliever Dylan Axelrod picked up the victory for the Bolts, working four scoreless innings of relief. Mata took the loss to drop to 0-2 on the season.

The series concludes on Thursday night at 8:05 EDT as the Crushers will try to avoid a sweep in Windy City. Josh Faiola will get the start for Lake Erie against the Thunderbolts' Tyler Kelsey.

"I believe in these guys," said Massarelli. "They'll bring their ‘A' game tomorrow."

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