Record rally in the ninth jolts the ’Bolts

They likely won’t make the playoffs, but on Aug. 29 the Lake Erie Crushers gave fans something to cheer about for years to come: The largest comeback in Crushers history.

Lake Erie scored eight runs in the ninth inning to beat the Windy City ThunderBolts, 12-11.

Trailing, 11-4, in the ninth, Lake Erie tried to make some magic happen in the ninth after Windy City’s Chris DeBoo walked three consecutive batters to load the bases. Andrew Lowe came in to relieve, but allowed L.J. Kalawaia to hit a two-run double, Jordan Dean kept hope alive with another two-run double, as the Crushers had somehow cut the lead to 11-8 with nobody out.

Brandon Murray hit an RBI single, cutting the lead to 11-9 with still nobody out.

Connor Simonetti brought the

THE SCORE

CRUSHERS 12, THUNDERBOLTS 11

crowd to their feet with a two-RBI ground-rule double, tying the game at 11-11 with nobody out.

With the entire crowd standing, Bryan De LaRosa turned a miracle into reality, as he lined the ball down the third base line. Parker Norris took off from third, beating the play at the plate to give the Crushers the unthinkable win.

“I’m just happy to be a part of it. We have a great group of guys that never give up. They started slow in the beginning of the game but they kept competing. That’s what this is all about, competing to the end,” De La Rosa said.

Before the magic happened it was downright ugly.

Beginning their final homestand of the 2017 season, the Crushers were roughed up early, allowing six runs in two innings.

It was a tough welcome home for the Crushers (4348), who were thought to be virtually eliminated from playoff contention after coming off the wrong end of a costly weekend sweep against the Frontier League-leading Schaumburg Boomers.

With seemingly everything going wrong early, Lake Erie manager Cameron Roth prefers to forget about the first couple of innings.

“To start off, it was one of the most embarrassing displays of baseball that I had ever been a part of, as far as lackluster effort, which is something you can control whether you are in the playoff hunt or not,” Roth said.

Things got off to a brutal start for Crushers starting pitcher Adam Quintana (44). The right-hander struggled to find the strike zone from the opening pitch, making for long innings but a short night. The ThunderBolts (48-42) made him pay with a pair of singles in the first.

Windy City’s Tim Zier capitalized with a sacrifice RBI. On the next at-bat, Larry Balkwill crushed a two-run home run, giving the wild-card-leading ThunderBolts a 3-0 lead.

Balkwill proved to be a nightmare for the Crushers, going 3-for-3 with a pair of home runs, a double, and a pair of walks on the evening.

Quintana’s struggles continued into the second, walking three consecutive batters, and allowing a sacrifice fly to Windy City’s Coco Johnson. Zier struck again in the top of the second, knocking in a two-run single, upping the ThunderBolts’ lead to 6-0.

It was apparent to everyone, including Roth, this was not going to be Quintana’s night.

That was all she wrote for Quintana, as he went two innings, allowing six runs off five hits, three walks, while striking out one.

Lake Erie’s Manny Arciniega came on in relief in the top of the third and was greeted rudely with a firstpitch solo shot over the left field wall.

Just as Quintana before him, Arciniega was shelled for five runs off three hits, while allowing two walks and striking out two.

De La Rosa gave fans a glimmer of hope, belting his seventh home run, a threerun shot over the left field wall, trimming the ThunderBolts lead to 11-3.

“I just got up to the plate, you know, just looking for a pitch that I could handle. I put in pretty good contact on the ball and got something going,” De La Rosa said.

That glimmer of hope became brighter and brighter.

Sean Hurley helped the Crushers creep closer with a home run in the eighth, his 15th of the season.