Crushers swept by Otters
Published on July 12, 2015 under Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release
Evansville, Ind.- The Lake Erie Crushers were defeated by the Evansville Otters, 6-1, on Sunday evening as Evansville scored a run in the third and five more in the fourth to complete the weekend sweep over the Crushers.
Following the loss, the Crushers (19-29) have now lost seven of their last 10 games on the road. The Otters (33-18) finish the season series winning seven of the nine games against the Crushers. They are now 8-2 in their last 10 games.
The Otters jumped on top early in the third. With one out, Cory Urquhart reached second on an error by Crushers third baseman Kevin Zak. Dean Wilson grounded to first and Urquhart ran to third. John Schultz then hit a single that scored the runner and put the Otters on the board first.
In the fourth, Shayne Houck singled to start the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch. He would move to third as Dane Phillips singled. Chris Sweeney was hit by a pitch to load the bases and then the Crushers defense began to struggle. Nik Balog hit a ball to third that Zak picked up and touched third for the first out. The Crushers third baseman then threw the ball past Burney at first which allowed Balog to advance to second. Houck and Sweeney also scored on the play. Kurt Wertz Jr. then grounded to second for out number two. Urquhart came up and hit a single that scored Balog. The next batter, Wilson, hit a ball out in front of the plate that catcher Jose Barraza picked up threw over the head of Burney. The ball rolled toward the right field bullpen, allowing Urquhart to score and Wilson to reach third. Schultz singled to left, scoring Wilson and putting the Otters up by six.
The Crushers would scratch across their only run in the ninth inning as Burney hit a one out single. Lance Phillips would then relieve Jake Raffaele to face Chandler Brock. Burney moved to second on defensive indifference. Brock walked and then Zak hit a grounder to short that got through into left field. Burney would come around to score on the error and Brock advanced to third. But that would be the only run the Crushers would score.
Juan Sanchez's 14 game hit streak came to an end as he went 0-4. Austin Prott walked to increase his on base streak to 16 straight games.
Crushers starter Brad Duffy (5-3) went four innings, allowing six hits and six runs but only four of the runs were earned. Trevor Longfellow, Kolby Moore and Matt Brankle came out of the bullpen and pitched four innings of scoreless relief. Efrain Nieves (7-2) pitched seven scoreless innings for Evansville, only giving up three hits and striking out six.
The Crushers have four days off for the All Star Break. Lake Erie will start a three game homestand on July 17 against the Schaumburg Boomers at All Pro Freight Stadium. The pitching matchup will be announced later in the week. 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 14 teams operating throughout the Midwest. Season tickets for the 2015 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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