The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Crushers edged by Beach Bums
Opening up a threegame homestand, the Crushers let one slip away as they relinquished two runs in the top of the ninth inning, allowing the Traverse City Beach Bums to sneak past for a 5-4 victory at Sprenger Stadium in front of 1,038 fans May 29.
The Crushers (10-6) took a 4-3 lead into the final inning. But a walk, single and two-RBI double from Traverse City’s Will Kengor snatched the game away in a matter of minutes.
Kengor terrorized the Crushers’ pitching, going 3-for-5 with three doubles and two RBI.
It was the eighth game decided by one run or less in the Crushers’ last nine games. A statistic Lake Erie manager Cam Roth knows is all part of the process as his team continues to mature and grow while surprising some observers around the league with their first-place standing.
“The reason for these one-run baseball games is that I think these guys are all just trying to do a little too much at the plate, and or not trusting themselves enough on the mound. It’s either or,” Roth said.
Lake Erie applied pressure on Beach Bums starting pitcher Reinaldo Lopez, making him work with long at-bats. The persistence paid off as the Crushers manufactured a pair of runs in the top of the first inning with Connor Simonetti’s RBI single, followed by a fielder’s choice from Brady Conlan that allowed Aaron Hill to score.
Simonetti finished 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and one RBI.
The Crushers added another run in the bottom of the second as Cameron Newell singled.
The routine play turned into a little luck for Lake Erie as the outfielder misjudged the ball allowing Dane Hutcheon to score, upping Lake Erie’s lead to 3-0.Newell finished 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and one RBI.
Traverse City answered back in the top of the fourth as it finally broke through on Lake Erie starting pitcher Donald Murray. Luke Lowery knocked in an RBI single, shortly followed by Alexis Rivera’s sac fly, cutting the lead to 3-2.
The Crushers answered right back with a sacrifice RBI from Newell, scoring Dalton Wheat.
Right on cue, the Beach Bums (8-8) responded with Rivera’s RBI double, scoring Kengor and trimming the lead back to one, 4-3.
Crushers reliever Mason Klotz found himself in a jam in the top of the seventh, but was able to evade any damage getting the Beach Bums to line out to right fielder Wheat for the third out, despite allowing runners to first and second earlier in the inning.
With their go-to closer Justin Sinibaldi having already been called upon in four straight games, Roth decided to go with Branden Nunn (0-1) to close it out in the ninth.
Despite garnering a few outs, the inning quickly unraveled as Kengor continued his hot hand at the plate.
“Branden has been pitching well for us,” Roth said. “That’s a no-brainer that you put Nunn in for the ninth inning, 100 percent. It’s just that, stuff happens.”
Lake Erie made it interesting in the final minutes, tallying runners on first and third, but just could not come through as they were retired by John Michael Knighton for the close-call save.
The loss snaps a twogame winning streak as the Crushers will look to get back on track May 30 as the two teams continue their three-game series. First pitch slated for 6:35 p.m.