Sports stats



FL Lake Erie Crushers

Crushers Take Game One Of Divisional Series In Kalamazoo

September 8, 2009 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


Kalamazoo, MI-Wayne Bond's solo homer off of Kalamazoo's Dan Baerlocker in the top of the ninth inning powered the Lake Erie Crushers to a win in game one of the Frontier League's best-of-five Division Series by the final of 8-7. The homer was Bond's second of the game and the sixth by Lake Erie on Tuesday night at Homer Stryker Field.

Bond's home run capped a rally by the Crushers after falling behind the Kings by as many as four runs during game one. Kalamazoo scored twice in the first and four more times in the second to knock Lake Erie starter Cardoza Tucker out of the game. But the Crushers bullpen came to the rescue, throwing seven and a third innings, allowing just one run on five hits, while striking out nine and walking only one. "Obviously when you get in a situation when your starter is struggling and you go to your pen that early, you need some innings and Josh (Faiola) set the tone and the other guys followed suit," said Crushers Manager John Massarelli. "Once we got the ball to Rolon, we liked our chances."

Alberto Rolon pitched the final two innings for the Crushers and did not allow a base runner, although there was a tense moment in the ninth with one out. Kalamazoo's Tim Brown hit a line shot to deep right, but Arden McWilliams made a superb catch at the wall to rob Brown of a home run.

The Crushers scored single runs in the first, second, fifth and seventh innings to put pressure on Kings starter John Brownell. Jodam Rivera led off the game with a solo homer to right, Eddie Tisdale added an RBI double in the second and a solo homer in the fifth. Bond brought the Crushers to within three runs in the seventh with a solo homer to left. In the eighth, the Crushers would put more pressure on the Kings as Gordon Gronkowski hit a two-run homer to left to pull Lake Erie to within a run. Two pitches later, Tyler Johnson launched a solo homer to right to tie the game at seven. Both homers in the eighth came off of reliever Jason LaVorgna. That set the stage for Bond's heroics in the ninth.

"That's what's so awesome about being a part of this team," said Bond afterwards. "We can be down by four runs, but everyone just stays positive and keeps hitting and good things happen."

The Crushers now own home field advantage and will look to take a 2-0 series lead on Wednesday night with ace Paul Fagan on the mound against Kalamazoo's Joe DiPietro. Game time will be at 7:05 P.M.

The Lake Erie Crushers are the newest expansion team in the Frontier League, an independent professional league with 12 teams throughout the Midwest. The team plays its home games at All Pro Freight Stadium, the new 5,000 capacity ballpark located at the intersection of I-90 and Route 611 in Avon. Season tickets and Mini-plans 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.

Check out the Lake Erie Crushers Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Frontier League message board...

Frontier League Stories from September 8, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central