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FL Lake Erie Crushers

Goofy First Inning Enough to Beat Crushers in Finale

August 4, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


Avon, OH - A weird first inning downed the Lake Erie Crushers (40-31) on Sunday as they fell to the Windy City Thunderbolts (32-41) by a 5-2 score. The Crushers remain in 3rd place in the Frontier League West 4.5 games ahead of Schaumburg for a playoff spot.

The opening frame seemed to progress normally for Lake Erie starter Matt Mulhearn. He got a couple of strikeouts and was a strike away from stranding men on 2nd and 3rd to end the inning. He got the strike on a swing and miss from RF Brennen Dorighi, but the ball went to the backstop behind C Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez attempted a throw to first, but it was wide, allowing both runners to score on a dropped third strike. Mulhearn had three strikeouts in the inning, but only two outs to show for.

Then, Windy City saw an opportunity to pounce and strung together three straight hits capped off by an RBI single by CF Cam Phelts. One moment, the Crushers were out of the first inning, the next, they were down 5-0. All five runs would go unearned on Mulhearn's line.

The Crushers got a gift run back in the home half of the 1st with 2B Alberti Chavez scoring on a throwing error. After the opening inning, it was 5-1 Windy City.

Chavez got back to work in the 3rd, extending his hitting streak to 10 games since being acquired by Lake Erie. He muscled his way around the bases and scored on a LF Jake Guenther RBI single to make it 5-2.

Matt Mulhearn settled in nicely after the 1st inning. He retired 13 straight Bolts before ultimately finishing 6 innings of work. His final line: 6 IP, 5 H, 5 R (all unearned), 1 BB, 5 K, on 94 pitches. He gave the Crushers a chance to win, but Lake Erie sputtered at the plate down the stretch.

The 7th inning was the best shot for the Crushers to push across a run. They put men on 1st and 2nd with only one out, forcing Windy City to bring in LHP Jack Mahoney. It took just one pitch for Mahoney to wiggle out of the inning as Jake Guenther hit a two-hopper to short that ended in a double play.

Crushers relievers LHP Cal Carver, RHP, Sam Curtis, and LHP Kenny Pierson all logged scoreless outings in relief, but Lake Erie came up short in the finale, going quietly in the back half of the contest.

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

Windy City ThunderBolts 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 7 2

Lake Erie Crushers 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 2

Lake Erie now looks ahead to Tuesday, August 6th for the start of a series against the Evansville Otters. The last time the Otters came to Avon, the Crushers put them away in a three game sweep. Game one will start at 7:05pm EST at Crushers Stadium on a Bark in the Park Night!

Interested in attending? Tickets can be found at the link provided below:

https://mlb.tickets.com/schedule/?agency=LERV_PL_MPV&orgid=57231#/?view=list &includePackages=true

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Frontier League Stories from August 4, 2024


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