Shinn, Parks Pave Way to Crushers' 6-2 Win against Gateway
FL Lake Erie Crushers

Shinn, Parks Pave Way to Crushers' 6-2 Win against Gateway

Published on May 23, 2026 under Frontier League (FL)
Lake Erie Crushers News Release


Lake Erie Crushers' Nathan Shinn in action
Lake Erie Crushers' Nathan Shinn in action
(Lake Erie Crushers)

Avon, OH - The Lake Erie Crushers (8-6) returned to their winning ways, defeating the Gateway Grizzlies (5-9) on Saturday night, 6-2. The Crushers have hit grand slams in back-to-back games on their trip to Sauget, Illinois, splitting the series thus far.

LHP Nathan Shinn took the mound as the starter for Lake Erie. The California native entered the ball game coming off a dominant start against the Mississippi Mud Monsters six days prior. Shinn picked up right where he left off, continuing to dominate on the bump.

Gateway's starter Alec Sparks started the contest with five quick outs, but Crushers C Derek Vegas started a two-out rally in the 2nd with a single. SS Jarrod Watkins slapped a single to center, then LF James Jett got his series started with a single to load the bases. With Lake Erie's lineup reset, 3B Pavin Parks blasted the 2-2 pitch over the short porch in right field, The grand slam jumped Lake Erie out to an early 4-0 lead.

Shinn walked 3B Dale Thomas with an out in the 4th. Former Crusher Davie Morgan singled to advance the runner 90 feet. A ground ball dribbled into center field by RF Mitchell Sanford carried deep enough to score Thomas from second, the first Gateway run of the night.

The Grizzlies got on the board in the 4th on a soft single up the middle by RF Mitchell Sanford to make the score 4-1 Lake Erie. 3B Dale Thomas added on in the 6th with a solo home run, putting the tallies to 4-2.

Otherwise, Shinn was great, putting up a much-needed quality start for Lake Erie. Shinn's final line: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K, on 94 pitches.

With the game in its dying embers in the 8th, Jack Hoeymans entered the ball game to pitch for Gateway. RF Garret Pike walked to start the inning. Looking to swipe second base, an errant throw to second allowed Pike an easy trip to third. 1B Jacob Tobias bounced a ball through the gap to left field scoring Pike, once again producing key runs on this Crushers road trip.

The Crushers would once again tack on a run in the 9th. CF Joe Redfield drew a leadoff walk, demonstrating his expert eye on his third free pass of the night. Redfield's aggressive base running helped the Crushers reach third base with DH Samuel Benjamin at the dish. Benjamin launched an expertly placed ball into a difficult spot in left field, easily scoring Redfield on an RBI double.

Leading 6-2, RHP Christian Scafidi entered the ball game looking to wrap up a win for Lake Erie. Scafidi was lights out in the final frame, only allowing one hit. He punched out the final Grizzlies batter to level the series.

Nathan Shinn's quality start was good for the win for Lake Erie. Alec Sparks surrendering the early grand slam was enough to hand him the loss.

Crushers Top Performers:

Nathan Shinn: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, QS, W

Pavin Parks: 2-for-5, HR, 4 RBI, 1 R

Crushers Bullpen (Noriega, Pierson, Scafidi): 3 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

The Crushers will finish the series tomorrow, May 24th at 2:00pm ET in Sauget, looking for their third straight series win. Games stream live and on-demand on HomeTeam Network. The Crushers are back home in Avon on May 26th for a $2 Tuesday at 6:30pm. Fans can use promo code "SCORE2" to get $2 tickets to the game when purchased at LECrushers.com.

For information on season ticket memberships visit lecrushers.com or call (440) 934-3636, and be sure to follow our socials @LECrushers on Instagram/Facebook/X.

Check out the Lake Erie Crushers Statistics

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Images from this story

Lake Erie Crushers' Nathan Shinn in action
Lake Erie Crushers' Nathan Shinn in action
   



Frontier League Stories from May 23, 2026


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