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FL Lake Erie Crushers

Crushers take series victory with 6-1 win over Windy City

July 5, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


AVON, Ohio -- The Lake Erie Crushers turned in their finest offensive performance over the last two weeks on Sunday afternoon, as they recorded 13 hits, and took the rubber match of their three-game series with the Windy City Thunderbolts, in a 6-1 victory at All Pro Freight Stadium.

The victory for the Crushers (17-25) marked the second time this season that they've won a series at home, while the loss for the ThunderBolts (16-27), the loss dropped their record to 3-14 in road games this season.

It was a complete effort for the Crushers, as they pounded out six runs on 13 hits, which was three more than their last two games combined, and they also received a strong pitching performance from Hunter Adkins (2-3).

Lake Erie scored first, for the first time in the series, in the bottom of the second. Jose Barraza started the inning with a single, which was his first of three hits on the day. A balk put him on second before he advanced to third on Turner Gill's fly-out to center, and he scored on Chandler Brock's RBI single.

Windy City scored their only run in the top of the third to tie the game at 1-1. Larry Balkwill led off with a walk, and made his way to third on a double from Mike Torres. Jonathan Garcia followed with a single to left center which scored Balkwill to tie the game, but Torres was thrown out at home plate on the play.

The Crushers answered quickly, scoring again in the bottom of the third to take the lead. Emmanuel Quiles began the inning with a single to left, and made his way to second before scoring on Austin Prott's first of two RBI singles on the day.

While the Crusher offense helped to pull away with a number of big hits down the stretch, the game changed in the fifth inning, as Adkins worked his way out a bases loaded jam. After walking Torres to load the bases with one out, Adkins struck out the next two batters, which began a string of eight consecutive batters retired by the right-hander to finish his outing.

Barraza struck again for the Crushers in the top of the fifth inning, with a two out RBI single to right field, and Lake Erie put the game away with three runs in the seventh. Ty Nelson started the inning with a single, and scored on Prott's RBI base hit to left center. Anderson Hidalgo drove in the next run on a groundout, and Barraza drove in the final run of the game on a RBI triple to the gap in right-center.

Adkins scored the victory for the Crushers, allowing just a run on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts over seven strong innings. Over his last two starts at home, he's 2-0, and has allowed just a run on eight hits over 15 innings with 14 strikeouts. Austin Wright (2-7) took the loss for Windy City, allowing three runs on seven hits over five innings.

Barraza and Brock led the way for the Crushers with three hits each, as they both went 3-for-4. Prott reached safely three times and went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI singles to extend his on base streak to 10 games. Juan Sanchez went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles to extend his hitting streak to nine games.

The Crushers are off on Monday, but will begin a three-game series with the River City Rascals at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Mo., on Tuesday night. Right-hander Rob Blanc (0-3, 2.78) will start for the Crushers. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:05 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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