FL Lake Erie Crushers

Jose Barraza's Grand Slam pushes Crushers past Beach Bums in series opener

Published on July 24, 2015 under Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


AVON, Ohio -- Jose Barraza belted Lake Erie's second grand slam of the season on Friday night at All Pro Freight Stadium, as the Crushers took the opening game of the series with a 6-5 victory over the Traverse City Beach Bums.

The victory for the Crushers (24-31) marked their third straight series opening victory in the second half, while the loss for the Beach Bums (33-23) was their third in their last four games.

Barraza's grand slam marked Lake Erie's first homerun at home since Joey Burney went deep back on June 3 against River City. Todd Kibby (1-1) scored his first victory of the season, and Trevor Longfellow (9) went 3.2 innings to get the save.

Lake Erie scored in the first inning for the fourth game in a row. Chandler Brock, Jose Barraza and Anderson Hidalgo stroked three consecutive one out singles in the inning as the Crushers took a 1-0 lead. Brock singled to center with one out and stole second base. Barraza then singled to left, and Brandon Jacobs bobbled the ball in left, which allowed Brock to score.

The lead was short-lived, as the Beach Bums tied it up in the top of the second. Yazy Arbello led the inning off with a double to center, made his way to third on a groundout, and Jake Rhodes drove him home on a RBI groundout.

Traverse City third baseman Jose Vargas hit a pair of homers on the night, and his first was a solo shot over the wall in left to give the Beach Bums a 2-1 advantage in the top of the third.

Lake Erie then took the lead for good by scoring five times, all with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Crushers had the bases loaded with two outs, when Traverse City starting pitcher Luis DeJesus (5-3) hit Brock with a 1-2 pitch to score the game tying run, which setup Barraza's grand slam on the very next pitch. The grand slam over the wall in right was his first homer of the season.

The Beach Bums put a scare into the Crushers by scoring three runs in the top of the sixth inning. Vargas struck again with a two run homer to left, his second of the game and his seventh of the season. Later in the inning, Rhodes walked with the bases loaded, and Longfellow came into the game with the bases loaded and one out. The first batter he faced, Sam Bumpers lined into an inning ending, 4-6 double play to end the threat.

Kibby went five innings and allowed two runs on four hits while fanning four batters to score his first win of the season, while Longfellow went 3.2 innings and allowed just a pair of hits while fanning two to get the save and DeJesus allowed all six runs on eight hits over four innings while taking the loss.

Every Crusher reached at least once, while eight out of the starting nine recorded at least one hit. Barraza and Emmanuel Quiles led the way with two hits each, both going 2-for-4. Barraza has now driven in 10 runs since the All Star Break. Austin Prott walked twice and extended his on base streak to 23 games, while Hidalgo's first inning single extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

The Crushers will continue their three game series with the Traverse City Beach Bums at All Pro Freight Stadium on Saturday night. Right-hander Brad Duffy (5-3, 3.82) will start for the Crushers and the Beach Bums will counter with right-hander Kramer Champlin (5-4, 2.11). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

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Frontier League Stories from July 24, 2015


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