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FL Lake Erie Crushers

Crushers Heartbroken by Gateway's Three-Run 8th, Find Themselves out of Playoff Spot

August 27, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


Avon, OH - The Lake Erie Crushers (47-43) fell victim to a Gateway Grizzlies (57-33) comeback victory on Tuesday night, losing 6-4. With Lake Erie's loss and Schaumburg's win, the Crushers now find themselves out of a playoff spot, down .5 games to the Boomers with five games left.

The Grizzlies got on the board in the 3rd thanks to the speed of CF Cole Brannen. He led off the inning with an infield single, advanced to second base by tagging up on a fly ball, went to third on a groundout, then scored on a wild pitch to give Gateway a 1-0 lead.

Their lead would last for just a nanosecond as RF Jake Guenther was plunked by the first pitch of the bottom of the 3rd, then C Johnny Tuccillo smacked his second long ball in as many starts to give Lake Erie a 2-1 lead. His fifth homer of the year puts him just one away from his career high at any level (Tucc had 6 in 2021 at Stony Brook).

Gateway punched back with a homer of their own in the 5th. This one came off the bat of 3B Dale Thomas, his second since joining the Grizzlies.

Once again, the score didn't last long with Lake Erie pulling back in the bottom half of the inning. This time it was a less conventional home run. 3B Logan Thomason lined a ball into the left field gap where Cole Brannen and LF Victor Castillo converged and collided. The ball scooted by and Thomason never stopped running. He hit third and made a final left turn to snag the ultimate XBH: an inside-the-park home run. Lake Erie led 3-2.

The Grizzlies manufactured the tying run with a sacrifice fly in the 6th, but the Crushers would respond with a sacrifice fly of their own by SS Jarrod Watkins following a long at-bat.

The 4-3 Lake Erie lead held until the top of the 8th. RHP Sammy Tavarez couldn't find the first base bag on a tweener hit to the right side of the infield, allowing C Jose Alvarez to reach. After a single and a walk, 1B Peter Zimmerman was plunked with the bases loaded, driving in the tying run.

Gateway wasn't finished. DH Kevin Krause worked a good at-bat and lined a 2 RBI single into left field to give the Grizzlies a 6-4 lead. RHP Sam Curtis came in to mop up the mess, but the damage was already done.

In the bottom of the 8th, the Crushers had an unfortunate resurfacing of deja vu. With men on first and second and Burle Dixon squaring to bunt at the plate, catcher Jose Alvarez back-picked to second base and nabbed Vincent Byrd Jr. trying to get a good secondary lead. It's the exact same scenario that happened against Washington on Sunday, and it put the Crushers behind the eight-ball in a pivotal inning.

Moments later, the heavens opened up and the rains came down, sending the contest into a 45 minutes rain delay.

When play resumed, Dixon was finished off with a strikeout by new pitcher RHP Alec Whaley. Whaley walked Guenther, but got Tuccillo to pop out to end the inning.

Lake Erie put the tying man on first base with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, but LHP Leoni De La Cruz, steady as ever finished off the Crushers and secured the 6-4 comeback victory for Gateway

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

Gateway Grizzlies 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 3 0 6 8 2

Lake Erie Crushers 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 4 6 0

The Crushers have a quick turnaround with game two of the series set for 1:05pm EST. Darrien Ragins will try to stop the five-game losing streak and get the Crushers back in control of their destiny, searching for the final playoff spot. It's Senior Slugger Day! Come enjoy a nice, serene afternoon of Crushers baseball with seniors getting a discount on tickets.

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Frontier League Stories from August 27, 2024


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