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FL Lake Erie Crushers

Florence Clubs a Pair of Big Homers, Crushers' Skid Reaches Six Games

July 30, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


Florence, KY - The Lake Erie Crushers (38-29) jumped out early on Tuesday against the Florence Y'alls (32-35), but they succumbed to two big homers in the middle innings and fell 7-2. The Crushers remain in third place in the Frontier League West.

Leading off the ballgame, the former Y'all, Alberti Chavez, got right to work with a leadoff single, extending his hitting streak to six games since joining the Crushers.

In the home half of the 1st, Florence had men on the corners against Matt Mulhearn, but RF Sam Franco put away the inning with a sensational catch flipping over the short side wall down the right field line to end the inning. Keep an eye out for the Frontier League Plays of the Series at the end of the set to see just how ridiculous Franco's catch was!

SS Jarrod Watkins struck for an infield single in the top of the 2nd. He has recorded a base hit in 43 of 63 games he's played in this season including 12 of his last 14.

With two outs and men on the corners in the top of the 4th, Sam Franco drove in a pair with a triple to give the Crushers a 2-0 lead. Franco's poke logged his fourth and fifth RBIs in his last three games.

The newly acquired CF Thomas Jones laced an RBI single for Florence in the bottom half to cut the lead in half. The Y'alls loaded the bases off RHP Matt Mulhearn with two outs, then, in classic Y'alls fashion, clobbered a grand slam to go up 5-2. The culprit was 2B Justin Lavey, hitting just his second homer of the season.

Florence struck again with the long ball in the 5th with a two-run homer off the bat of 3B Brian Fuentes, his seventh of the season. As quickly as Lake Erie took the lead, the Y'alls took it right back and piled on. Mulhearn was removed with two outs in the 5th for long reliever RHP Leonardo Rodriguez. Leo finished off the inning with a strikeout and closed the book on Mulhearn's line - 4.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 4 BB, 2 K on 96 pitches.

Rodriguez and LHP Cal Carver combined for scoreless outings in relief, but the offense remained in neutral as Florence took game one of the series 7-2.

The Crushers' losing streak moves to six straight, and they are now 1-9 since the start of the second half. In the series opener the Crushers left nine men on base and grounded into three double plays.

Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E

Lake Erie Crushers 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 10 0

Florence Y'alls 0 0 0 5 2 0 0 0 X 7 10 0

The Crushers remain in Florence for game two of the series Wednesday at 6:41pm EST. It'll be Pedro Echemendia on the mound for Lake Erie.

Can't join us at the ballpark? No worries! You can stream the Lake Erie Crushers all season long at FloSports.tv.

Frontier League Standings: https://frontierleague.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/overall-standings

Be sure to also follow the Crushers on Instagram/Facebook/X @LECrushers!

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Frontier League Stories from July 30, 2024


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