Joliet slams the door on Crushers in rout

game with a 1.80 ERA and six earned runs allowed in 30 innings, had his ERA balloon to 3.93 after allowing nine runs (all earned) in four innings Wednesday night.

Beyer actually retired the first seven men he faced before he was touched up for three hits and two runs in the third, two hits and one run in the fourth and the six-run bonanza in the fifth.

The big hits he allowed were a two-run double by ex-Crushers L.J. Kalawaia in the third, an RBI single from Trey Fulton in the fourth, a two-run single from Justin Garcia and a three-run homer from cleanup hitter Danny Zardon in the fifth. Zardon added a solo blast in the top of the ninth off reliever Louis Cohen for good measure.

The Crushers did bang out 10 hits and scored five times. Normally, that would be good enough for a victory. Wednesday, not so much.

“Zardon hit the ball really well today,” Roth said. “It was just a rough outing on the mound for Micah. As far as setting the tone, we were right there in it through four innings. We were able to stay in a competitive spot. But when you put six up in one inning, it kind of changes the momentum of the game.

“If you can’t answer back with a more efficient inning than one (run), it’s tough to come back from. But overall, I thought some of our guys put some good swings on the ball. It was just one of those games where we needed a bit more.”

Lake Erie got on the board in the third with its first hits of the game off starter Liam O’Sullivan (9-4). Dalton Wheat led off with a double to rightcenter, and he scored on an RBI single by Bryan De La Rosa. But De La Rosa was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double. That loomed large when No. 9 hitter Nick Roark ripped a double to left-center, and Roark was left stranded with back-to-back outs from Aaron Hill and Dane Hutcheon.

The Crushers strung together some hits again in the bottom of the fourth inning, this time converting them into two runs to tie the game at 3.

Lenahan began it with a one-out home run just inside the right-field foul pole. The solo blast was Lenahan’s fourth of the season.

Terry McClure and Zach Racusin followed with backto-back hits, followed by a walk to Wheat to load the bases with one out. Bryan De La Rosa hit a towering fly to deep center. It was caught for the second out, but McClure easily tagged up for the second run of the inning.

De La Rosa added his fourth home run of the season – a solo shot to left – with two outs in the sixth. He finished with a team-best three RBIs and went 2-for-3, but it wasn’t enough.

McClure and Lenahan each went 2-for-4 to help the Crushers offense.

Kalawaia finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs against his former team. All but one of Joliet’s players did not register a hit in Wednesday’s 12-run, 18-hit bludgeoning.