Caballero hurls shutout for win

If you can say one thing about this Crushers team, it’s that they are always full of surprises.

The Crushers opened up a three-game series against Schaumburg in convincing fashion, as the purple crew crushed the visiting Frontier League-leading Boomers with an offensive explosion paired with a two-hit gem from starting pitcher Juan Caballero for a 14-0 victory at Sprenger Stadium on Aug. 11.

The win puts the Crushers with a 6-4 record August as they continue to battle consistency issues. But Lake Erie manager Cameron Roth has seen improvement in his club and likes where the team is headed as they approach the home-stretch of the season.

“Guys were able to lock in and stay locked in,” Roth said. “It’s that power and we have been preaching it within this clubhouse and they have to do the little things correctly, and they for sure did them today.”

The Crushers’ bats were alive and well as Cody Lenahan connected for a tworun double in the first. Austin O’Brien added another run off of a sacrifice fly, giving the Crushers a 3-0 lead.

In the second, former Boomer Jordan Dean, crushed a two run homerun over the left center wall. Dean added an RBI single in the fourth, giving the Crushers a 6-0 lead. He finished just short of the cycle, going 4-for-6 with a home run, two singles, a double, two strikeouts and 3 RBI.

“It was just one guy building off another and that’s how we’re going to keep winning,” Dean said.

While the offense was thrilling the thousands of fans at Sprenger Stadium, Caballero (5-2) was delivering a brilliant performance. He began the night by striking out the side and retired the first seven he faced. Caballero went the distance while allowing two hits, four walks and striking out a season-high 10. He has not allowed an earned run in 24 innings.

The Crushers continued to tee off on Schaumburg starting pitcher Kagen Hopkins (8-4). The normally swift right-hander simply did not have anywhere his best stuff and got shelled for 11 runs off 12 hits while allowing two walks and striking out three in four innings.

“I’ve had the chance to play behind him (Hopkins) when I was with Schaumburg the last couple years so I have an idea of what he tries to do. It just looked like our guys were ready to hit and when the ball was up, we made him pay,” Dean said.

Lake Erie blew open the game in the fourth as Connor Oliver knocked a tworun triple, followed by Sean Hurley’s sacrifice RBI, extending the lead to 9-0. Connor Simonetti capped the inning with a tworun home run, upping the Crushers lead to 11-0.