Lake Erie wins fifth game in a row

Crushers earn big victory heading into the break

Now that is the way to end the first half.

Lake Erie rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 11th inning with Connor Oliver driving home Sean Hurley with a sacrifice fly to right to give the Crushers their fifth win in a row with a 3-2 Frontier League win over Florence in front of 1,713 at Sprenger Stadium on July 9.

The win also gives Lake Erie (23-27) its first series sweep of the season as it heads into the AllStar break.

“We’re having fun and enjoying the game,” Hurley said. “We’re staying within ourselves and not trying to do too much. Sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves and make the game 10 times harder than it already is.”

A terrific pitcher’s duel between Lake Erie starter Steve Hagen and Florence starter Jordan Kraus match each other, allowing just a single run.

In the top of the 11th inning, Florence took the lead with Andre Mercurio’s sacrifice fly to score Daniel Fraga — who started the inning on second base due to the international rule.

The bottom of the 11th is when the magic happened.

Jordan Dean started the inning on second base. After a sacrifice bunt by Austin O’Brien, Hurley (two hits, two RBI) singled to left to score Dean. Cody Lenahan singled and pinch-hitter Brandon Murray was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Oliver worked the count to 3-1 before launching a fly ball to deep right and easily score Hurley and cap the comeback.

Having a big day at the plate, Hurley was pleased to see his approach pay off.

“Staying in the middle of the field and not trying to do too much,” Hurley said. “Sometimes you have those days when you are trying to kill the ball and nothing happens. You let the game come to you and it slows everything down.”

The winning streak will allow Lake Erie to enjoy the break, while keeping an eye on what it can do in the second half.

“It does a lot for us and lets us know at the end of the game we’re not giving up,” Hurley said. “It’s important over this break that we keep the same mentality we’ve had.”

Hagen, who didn’t get a decision, was outstanding in his seven innings of work. He allowed only a solo home run to Fraga in the top of the third inning. He struck out six and scattered four hits.

“The command just got going as the game went on,” Hagen said.”I was able to keep some fastballs down … (I was able) to mix and match pitches and I had a lot of help behind me.

“Baseball is a game of momentum, so this (winning streak) is huge.”

Lake Erie took a 1-0 lead off Krause in the bottom of the first inning with Hurley doubling off the wall in leftcenter to score O’Brien. But the Crushers didn’t get much else going against Kraus after that. Kraus went nine innings, striking out seven.

The bullpen duo of Seth Lucio and Manny Arciniega kept Florence in check enough to allow the comeback to happen.

Lake Erie is off until July 14, when it will hosts Joliet.