Crushers win two of three from West leader

With the West Division firstplace River City Rascals coming to town this past weekend, the Lake Erie Crushers knew how important this series could be.

Thanks to some timely hitting and baserunning by leadoff hitter Kevin LaChance and a quality start from pitcher Sean Renzi (5-1), the Crushers rebounded from dropping the opening game of this series with a 3-2 win over the Rascals on June 17 in front of 1,946 at Sprenger Stadium.

The Crushers improved to 2213 with their second straight win, putting them two games behind Washington for first in the East Division. River City falls to 18-15, but still leads the West by a game over Evansville.

Renzi scattered four hits and two runs (both earned) in eight innings, striking out seven and walking one.

He threw 100 pitches, striking out J.D. Hearn on his final pitch to end the eighth.

“I was thinking about walking in (my office) the whole time and all I was going to say to (the reporters) was ‘Sean Freaking Renzi,’” Crushers manager Cam Roth said. “That guy, he might be 25 or 26 years old. But all he does is go out, punches tickets and he throws the ball over the plate. When you hit it, you’re not gonna square it up.

“I know he was running out of the gas in the eighth – we had (Kent) Hasler warming up to face (Mike) Jurgella – but in his experience and savvy, he wasn’t gonna give in. I made a mound visit with one out. But I told him, ‘I don’t care what you do, I don’t want these next two kids on base. No free passes.’ I wanted him to keep his pitch count good. He just had the savvy enough to know that he wasn’t gonna give in.”

Renzi allowed a run in the first inning after a double from Hearn and a solo home run to lead off the fourth by Paul Kronenfeld – his third of the season. Other than that, the Rascals couldn’t do much against the veteran hurler as on-field temperatures soared to triple digits.

“I was getting both sides of the plate with the fastball today and mixing in the off-speed,” Renzi said. “We had a lot of good things working today and (Bryan De La Rosa) called a real good game.

“You just look at weather the day before and prepare by drinking a lot of water the night before and this morning. It gets hot out there, but it’s not too bad.”

In the meantime, the Crushers offense didn’t do much against rookie Hunter Spencer – making his professional debut. But LaChance, who went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI, was a big reason why Lake Erie did just enough to win.

LaChance led off the game with a single on Spencer’s first professional pitch. He stole second and took third on a throwing error, then scored on Kewby Meyer’s one-out RBI single to tie the game at 1-1.

“I thought we played a good game all together,” LaChance said. “A lot of other guys had big games today, too. I was able to put some good at-bats together. I saw the ball well and I put a swing on some good pitches. That was my approach going in and I was able to do that.”

In the fourth, with River

City clinging to a 2-1 lead, LaChance was set up by the first home run of the season by right fielder Doug Trimble. Trimble drove a 1-2 pitch well over the left-field wall with one out in the inning to tie the game at 2-2.

Catcher Bryan De La Rosa followed with a double and he took third on a groundout to short from No. 9 hitter Dalton Wheat. Once again on the first pitch, LaChance surprised everyone by laying down a perfect bunt toward first base. LaChance reached first without a throw and De La Rosa easily scored for a 3-2 Crushers lead.

“With two outs and a guy on third, my job is to get him however I can,” said LaChance, who raised his average to .274 with his big day. “It was something I saw earlier that I picked up on and I thought I had a good chance to get it done, and then I was able to execute.

“When the opportunity presents itself, I like the opportunity to use the bunt to get on base. My job is to get on base anyway I can and manufacture runs.”

Roth said the bunt was all on LaChance.

“Kevin is able to pay attention to detail with the best of them,” he said. “Not only with his daily routine and regime, but he notices things during the game and he’s always writing stuff down in his book. He’s not overthinking – some guys do that kind of stuff and you think they are swimming in their own dome. That what he has to do to stay locked in for the game, and it pays off for him, day in and day out.

“He saw the lefty falling off the third base side and Freeman was playing back (off first). He did that all on his own. It’s nothing that we put in as a situational play. He knows, with the lefty falling off, it’s a good time to do it, and he’s a great bunter.”

Despite giving up a oneout double that was inches shy of a game-tying home run by Kronenfeld, closer Justin Sinibaldi earned his eighth save with a scoreless ninth. He rebounded by coaxing Braxton Martinez and Clint Freeman to ground out to end the home series on a high note.

“Baldi coming in the ninth had pitched three days in a row, but he’s another guy that you’ve just gotta give a little confidence to,” Roth said. “He thought he was a little off (June 16), but coming in today with a tough guy on second base and one out, he did a great job against Martinez and Freeman when Baldi, historically, doesn’t do a great job against left-handed hitters.”