Joliet finishes weekend sweep of Crushers

The start of the second half didn’t go exactly as Lake Erie hoped.

The Crushers watched a 6-3 third inning lead dissipate as Joliet completed the three-game sweep with a 9-6 Frontier League on July 16 in front of 1,977 fans at Sprenger Stadium.

“I thought the first game we played well and second game we were in a competitive spot until the seventh or eighth inning,” Lake Erie Manager Cameron Roth said. “Just one bad inning from (Andrew) Utterback – which hasn’t happened all year – probably my fault as I should have given him more time to get loose.

“We had 13 hits and only score six runs and leave nine on base. That’s not very good. Overall, I thought we saw some good things … I feel think we are heading in the right direction, It’s odd to say coming after a sweep. We took a step back (July 15), but we took two steps forward (July 16).”

Trailing, 3-1, Lake Erie took the lead with a fiverun third inning.

Jordan Dean started things off with his teamleading 10th home run — a solo blast over the left-field wall. Connor Simonetti (2for-5) and Sean Hurley (2for-4) followed with base hits. Austin O’Brien singled home Simonetti, while Connor Oliver’s double scored Hurley.

Josh McAdams capped off the rally and ended Joliet starter Shane Bryant’s day with a two-run single to center.

Joliet roughed up starter Connor Reed (2-6) for two more runs in the fourth inning — Travis Bolin hitting a solo home run and Josh Merrigan scoring on a groundout after he hit a triple.

The fifth inning proved to be the undoing of Reed and the Crushers.

After getting the first batter out, Reed allowed the next three Slammers to reach base and load the bases. One was a double by Edwin Gomez, which appeared to land foul, but was ruled fair.

Bolin singled home Danny Zardon, while Chaz Meadows singled home Gomez to give Joliet the lead. Rock Shoulders scored on a wild pitch. Reed was relieved by Mason Klotz. The final run came on with Ridge Hoopi-Haslem hitting a swinging bunt which didn’t go very far from home plate. No throw was made as Bolin scored to make it 9-6.

“That is a tough one on him (Reed),” Roth said. “He had some good pitches working for him … You can’t fall in love with the off-speed. You still have to pitch off the fastball. That’s a good hitting team (Joliet).”

After scoring six runs off of Bryant, Lake Erie’s offense was shut down by four Slammers pitchers. Nine of the 13 hits came off of Bryant, and the last four were scattered over the last six innings.

With a six-game trip to River City and Florence starting July 18, Roth knows what the Crushers need to do to regain the momentum they had at the end of the first half.

“I think it’s just a thing of letting them know that we (coaching staff) are behind them and have our support,” Roth said. “They’re going to have to go out there and be brass tacks … I’m a stickler for is (their) character and poise within the game and not finding a cop out or easy excuse as to why something didn’t happen.”