Shutout snaps Lake Erie’s winning streak

Lake Erie’s three-game winning streak was snapped June 8 at Sprenger Stadium as the Crushers were shut out, 1-0, by Southern Illinois.

It was the Crushers’ first shutout loss of the season as the offense struggled at the plate all night, managing two hits off Miners starter Ethan Gibbons (21) and three on the night.

“To see the same guy for eight innings and only get three hits, that’s not very good, so our approach wasn’t where we’d have liked it to be today, but it’ll come,” Lake Erie manager Cam Roth said.

Crushers starter Connor Reed (1-3) took the loss in a seven-inning effort, holding Southern Illinois to six hits and an unearned run while striking out four, but the Lake Erie defense struggled with three errors, including a pair in the third inning that led to Marc Flores’ RBI double.

“We knew we were going to have a competitive chance to win the game, especially with (Reed) going into it,” Roth said. “(Reliever) Manny Arciniega comes in in the eighth and ninth and does a good job, so you can’t really complain with that, especially when we have three or four errors on the board.

“It just shows they were competitive and they didn’t let those little things bother them and that’s something that was obviously good to see, so we can take that away as a win in that perspective.” While Roth noted Gibbons’ effort, he said it was his team’s mentality at the plate that’s stalled the offense more than anything and credited his pitching staff for keeping the Crushers in competitive matchups.

“Gibbons is a good pitcher, no discredit to him whatsoever, but just in general the last couple games, even the wins, we haven’t really been able to put the barrel on a lot of balls,” Roth said. “Coming in I knew Gibbons was going to come right at us with the fastball, and he did, so tip your cap to him. We just weren’t able to take the bat off our shoulder a lot of the time. It just comes from a mentality and an approach standpoint.

“We’ve just been able to squeak by because our pitchers have held us in competitive games and done a great job there. It’s time for the offense to kind of help out a little bit.”

Brandon Murray, Max Casper and Cody Lenahan (double) had the Crushers’ three hits.

The Crushers (10-14) open a three-game series with the Gateway Grizzlies June 9 at Sprenger Stadium.

“Something we reiterate to these guys is we’re one unit. So if the pitchers are doing well and the hitters are obviously struggling, we can’t sit there and bash or critique or anything like that. We have to come together because sooner or later, at some point, it’s going to be flip-flopped,” Roth said. “That’s just the name of the game.”