The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Crushers continue to fizzle at plate
The dugout of a professional baseball team on a losing streaking is a fertile environment for gallows humor.
Here’s an example. Lake Erie manager Dan Rohn sits in a corner of the dugout minutes before the first pitch of the Aug. 22 game with Washington. His team was on a three-game losing streak, was hitting .195 as a team for the month of August, and hadn’t scored a run in 21 innings.
Asked what could be done to shake up the offense, Rohn said in a clearly joking manner: “I liked to get rid of all 22 of my players and replace them.”
When a reporter reminded him of the old baseball saying that it’s easier to fire one manager than getting rid of 22 players he jokingly said, “I hope they do.”
Don’t look for the Crushers front office to cut its whole roster. Or for the team to give Rohn the boot. But the season continued to slide away on Aug. 22 as the Crushers lost to the Washington Wild Things, 4-2, on a sunny, steamy afternoon at Mercy Health Stadium in front of 1,232 fans. Washington swept the weekend series, despite scoring a total of six runs and improved to 42-35.
It was the fourth straight loss for the Crushers, who dropped to 34-43 and fell 5 1/2 behind first place Schaumburg in the Central Division and 1 1/2 games behind Windy City for second place. Only the division winner will advance to the Frontier League playoffs.
The Crushers will have to start hitting if they want to try to get back into contention. But despite the offensive woes, the mood in the dugout is still upbeat, said Passatempo.
“We’re still in this. We have six games against Schaumburg and four against Windy City,” said Passatempo.
Washington took an early 1-0 on Aug. 23 on a Bralin Jackson RBI ground out. The run was unearned. Andrew Sohn singled to lead off the inning against Lake Erie starter Jose Fuentes. He moved to third when Fuentes’s pick-off attempt got past Passatempo for a throwing error. He came around to score on the Jackson ground out.
The Crushers tied the game in the sixth and ended a scoreless streak that reached 26 innings in the process.
Shawon Dunston Jr. tripled with one out, the Crushers first extra-base hit of the weekend. He scored on a single by Zach Racusin. Dunston had two hits on the games.
Rohn elected to make the game a bullpen game and used a total of seven pitchers.
Dan Kight, who gave up three runs in a one-third of an inning in the seventh, ended up taking the loss. Tristan Peterson’s bloop single to left field gave the Wild Things a 2-1 lead. Nick Ward added an RBI single and the Wild Things scored another run when Tyler Sugg, pitching in relief in of Kight, wild pitched home a run.
Lake Erie scored a final run in the ninth on an RBI single by shortstop Eric Calahan.
Ryan Feierabend, who was turning 36 on this day, has been a bright spot in a dark August for the Crushers. During the month he’s compiled a 3-1 record with an ERA of 1.95. In the Crushers 1-0 loss on Aug. 20, he took the loss even though he allowed just five hits, one run, and struck out nine. He’s now 7-4 on the year and his ERA is now a sparkling 2.95.
Feierabend, who’s played for three major league teams and is in his 19th year of pro baseball, knows it’s crunch time for the Crushers.
“Every game here out is our game seven. We don’t have a tomorrow. We either win games or we go home at the end of the season,” Feierabend said.
What’s next: The Crushers opened a three-game series on Aug. 25 at 7:05 vs. Southern Illinois.