FL Lake Erie Crushers

Crushers score first home win 11 innings over Windy City

Published on June 1, 2012 under Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


AVON, Ohio - The Lake Erie Crushers outlasted the Windy City Thunderbolts at All Pro Freight Stadium on Friday night, as they scored their first home win of the season, in an 11 inning, 7-6 victory.

Brandon Decker was plunked in the head by Ryan Carr's (0-1) 0-1 offering with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the 11th inning to secure the victory for Lake Erie.

The Crushers (5-8) belted out 16 hits on the evening, and went through five pitchers in their second extra inning game in as many days, while the loss for the Thunderbolts (8-4) snapped their three game winning streak.

The Thunderbolts got on the board first. Chris Wade began the first inning with a double and came around to score on a wild pitch. Lake Erie answered with a pair in the home half of the first. Adrian Ortiz started the inning with a double and scored on Andrew Davis's base hit. Gered Mochizuki scored the go ahead run on Jason Taylor's RBI groundout.

The Crushers added another in the fourth inning. Kellen Kulbacki walked, and made his way to third on Robby Kuzdale's double. Kyle Shaffer drove Kulbacki on an RBI groundout.

Windy City took their second lead of the game with a four-run sixth inning. Billy Nowlin belted an RBI single, which was followed by Brandon Decker's run scoring double. Zach Aakhus capped the big inning with a two-run single.

The Crushers responded with a three-run sixth inning. Taylor started the inning with a double, and scored on Rogelio Noris's base hit. Kuzdale brought Noris home on a triple to tie the game at 5-5. The Crushers took the lead, when Ortiz reached on a dropped third strike, which allowed Kuzdale to score.

Down to their final out in the eighth inning, the Thunderbolts received a clutch RBI single from Travis Weaver to score Jareck West and tie the game at 6-6.

The Crushers had runners on second and third with one out in the tenth inning, but failed to score after Andy Mee struck out Kyle Weldon, intentionally walked Ortiz, and got Mochizuki to groundout to second.

Davis began the 11th inning with a triple to right-center. Wally Correa was then hit by a pitch, before Taylor walked on five pitches. Carr was ahead 0-1 on Brandon Decker, when he hit him on the left side of his head to bring home the winning run.

Six Crushers recorded multi-hit games, including Davis and Kuzdale who paced the Crushers with three hits apiece. Kuzdale came a home run away from hitting for the cycle in a 3-for-4 performance, while Davis tripled, hit a pair of singles and went 3-for-5. Ortiz, Taylor, Noris, and Kulbacki all hit safely twice.

Randy Sturgill (2-0) struck out the side in the 10th inning and worked his way out of a minor jam in the 11th to score the victory, while Carr suffered the loss, failing to retire any batters in the final inning.

The Crushers will continue their three game series with the Windy City Thunderbolts, at All Pro Freight Stadium on Saturday night. Right hander Mickey Jannis (0-1, 5.40) will start for the Crushers and the Thunderbolts will counter with right hander Steven Sauer (0-0, 3.00). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

The Lake Erie Crushers, the 2009 Frontier League Champions, and 2011 Frontier League Organization of the year, play ball at All Pro Freight Stadium, a 5,000 capacity stadium located in Avon, Ohio. The Frontier League is an independent baseball league with 12 teams operating throughout the Midwest. Season tickets for the 2011 season are on sale now! For more information on tickets, promotions and team news, visit the team website at www.LakeErieCrushers.com or call 440-934-3636.

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Frontier League Stories from June 1, 2012


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