FL Lake Erie Crushers

Late Mistakes Cost Crushers

Published on July 4, 2018 under Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


AVON, Ohio - The Lake Erie Crushers, presented by Mercy Health, were victimized by a pair of errors in the final two innings of Wednesday night's game against the Evansville Otters, as they lost a late lead and dropped the second game of the series, 7-4 in front of a crowd of 4,227.

The loss for the Crushers (25-22) was their fifth in a row, their longest losing streak of the season, while the Otters (25-21) have now won three of their last four on the road.

The Crushers held a 4-2 lead through seven innings, but two out errors in the eighth and ninth inning opened the door for the Otters to tie the game and then take the lead.

Evansville fired first for the second straight night. The Otters plated a pair of runs on two hits in the top of the first inning. David Cronin began the game with a 7-pitch walk, and Ryan Long followed with a base hit. Jeff Gardner walked with one out to load the bases and Travis Harrison followed with a two run single to left.

The Crushers used a double steal with two outs to score their first run of the series in the bottom of the second. Bryan DeLaRosa stroked a one out double to left, and with two outs, he stole third. Aaron Hill then walked, and the Crushers executed a double steal, with Hill stealing second DeLaRosa coming home on the play.

The Crushers then used the long ball to take their first lead of the series in the bottom of the fifth. Hill smacked a one out single to left field, and Dane Hutcheon followed by sending the next pitch over the wall in right field. The two-run homer was Hutcheon's second of the season, giving Lake Erie a 3-2 lead.

Lake Erie plated one final run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Hill reached on a one out single and made his way to third on Hutcheon's single to second before scoring on Kewby Meyer's sacrifice fly.

In the top of the eighth inning, Branden Nunn retired the first two batters before allowing a single to Zach Welz and walked Mike Rizzitello. Hunter Cullen then followed with a RBI single to right. Doug Trimble had a hard time handling the ball in right, and it skipped past him. The error allowed a second run to score, tying the game.

The Otters then scored three times in the ninth to put the game away. They had the bases loaded with two outs when Welz hit a ground ball to Hill at short. Hill's throw pulled Meyer off the bag at first, and the error allowed the go ahead run to score. Rizzitello followed with a back-breaking two run single to right.

Garrett Harris (2-1) scored the victory for the Otters, tossing 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. Mitchell Aker (15) tossed a scoreless ninth inning to come away with the save. Seth Lucio (0-1) took the loss after allowing three unearned runs on two hits over two-thirds of an inning.

The top of the Lake Erie batting order paced the Crushers. Hutcheon led the way going 4-for-5 and drove in two runs. Hill wasn't far behind with a trio of hits, going 3-for-4 and reached four times to extend his on base streak to 14 games. Meyer went 1-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to eight games.

The Crushers will finish their three game series against the Evansville Otters at Sprenger Healthcare Stadium on Thursday night. The pitching matchup has not been announced and the first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

The Lake Erie Crushers, the 2009 Frontier League Champions, and 2011 Frontier League Organization of the year, play ball at Sprenger Health Care Stadium, a 5,000 capacity stadium located in Avon, Ohio. The Frontier League is an independent baseball league with 12 teams operating throughout the Midwest. 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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Frontier League Stories from July 4, 2018


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