FL Lake Erie Crushers

Crushers outlast Greys

Published on August 9, 2014 under Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


AVON, Ohio-- In a game that saw 16 walks and five errors, the Lake Erie Crushers outlasted the Frontier Greys, winning in their final at bat, with a 6-5 victory at All Pro Freight Stadium on Saturday night.

The victory for the Crushers (41-32) was their 11th walk off victory of the season, and their third win in a row overall, while the loss for the Greys (25-48) was their third in a row.

The contest was pretty sloppy on both sides, as the Greys committed three errors throughout the night, and the Crushers walked 11 batters on the evening.

Things didn't start well for Lake Erie, as starting pitcher Todd Kibby issued seven walks over three innings. He walked four batters in a row with two outs in the top of the first inning, and his bases loaded walk to Frank Florio plated the first run of the game.

Two innings later, Kibby issued back-to-back walks to start the inning, and Jon Minucci followed with a single, before Florio grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to score the next run of the contest.

The Greys added another run in the top of the fifth inning on a RBI single from Chase Tucker to give the Greys a 3-0 lead.

Lake Erie scored a trio of runs to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth. The inning began with Ryan Hutchison's infield single, and he scored moments later on Joey Burney's RBI double to the gap in left-center. PJ Torres reached on an error, and Craig Hertler's sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third. Trevor Stevens followed with a game tying two-run single to right.

The Crushers added single runs in the sixth and seventh. Sanchez and Mejia started the inning with back-to-back singles, and Hutchison grounded into a 6-3 double play to score Sanchez. In the seventh, Hertler and Stevens stroked back-to-back singles, and Andrew Davis brought Hertler home on a sacrifice fly.

The Greys then caught fire in the top of the ninth. The first four batters of the inning reached safely. Steven Rodgers drove in the first run on a RBI single to center. Tucker struck two batters later with a game tying RBI groundout. Trevor Longfellow (5-2) found a way out of the jam, by retiring the next two batters to keep the game tied at 5-5.

Greys reliever Cameron Lamb (2-5) retired the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth inning. Sanchez walked with two outs, and Mejia followed with a single to right on a 3-2 pitch. On the single to right, Sanchez advanced to third, and scored as Minucci bobbled the ball in right.

Longfellow was one of seven pitchers to see action for the Crushers on the night, and allowed no runs on two hits in his only inning of work. Lamb went two-thirds of the ninth inning and took the loss, surrendering just the unearned run on one hit.

Five Crushers hit safely multiple times on the night. Hertler, Stevens, Hidalgo Mejia and Burney all turned in two-hit performances. Stevens drove in a pair of runs, and he's knocked in seven runs over his last three games. Hertler's two-hit performance extended his on base streak to 25 games.

The Crushers will continue their three-game series with the Frontier Greys at All Pro Freight Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Lefty Matt Rein (0-5, 5.68) will start for the Crushers and right-hander Lamarre Rey (2-4, 8.22) will start for the Greys. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM.

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Frontier League Stories from August 9, 2014


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