FL Lake Erie Crushers

Lake Erie Powers Past Otters

August 16, 2009 - Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


Evansville, IN -On a warm night in Southern Indiana, the Crushers pounded out 15 hits on the way to an 8-3 win over the Evansville Otters at Bosse Field on Sunday. The Crushers with the victory took two out of three over the Otters.

Gordon Gronkowski got the hit parade off to a good start in the first inning as he launched a two-run homer to left to put the Crushers up 2-0. Gronkowski has 17 homers on the year and has now driven in 69 runs. Evansville added single runs in the first and third as Frank Meade first brought home a run with a sacrifice fly, then later added a solo homer. With the score tied at two in the fourth, the Crushers would explode for three runs as Brad Griffiths drove in a pair with an RBI single, and Wayne Bond added an RBI double to put Lake Erie up by a 5-2 count.

The game would be put away in the sixth inning as the Crushers broke open a 5-3 ballgame with another three run burst. Bond again came up big for Lake Erie with a two-run single, and Tim Binkoski added an RBI single of his own. Bond had three hits on the night and every player who started for Lake Erie had at least one hit. "We did a nice job of situational hitting tonight," said Crushers Manager John Massarelli. "We laid down bunts and moved guys over and that's how you break games open."

The run support was enough to give Cardoza Tucker his second consecutive victory, as the right-hander battled control problems to give his team five innings of work. He allowed three runs on three hits with five strikeouts and four walks. "He couldn't get command on his fastball but battled and gave us a chance to win," said Massarelli. Ronnie Morales and J.J. Pacella combined to throw four scoreless innings to finish out the win for the Crushers.

Lake Erie improves to 46-32 with the win and will enjoy Monday off. The Crushers will play at Southern Illinois starting on Tuesday night at 8:05 EDT. Paul Fagan will be on the mound for Lake Erie against Ryan Bird.

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Frontier League Stories from August 16, 2009


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