The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Crushers split doubleheader with Miners
The Lake Erie Crushers snapped a six-game losing streak with a win in the second half of a doubleheader on Aug. 26.
Left fielder Steven Kraft’s RBI triple kickstarted a Crushers rally in the bottom of the fourth, leading to a 2-1 win over Southern Illinois.
The split moves Lake Erie to 35-45 on the season. Keeping them six games back of first place in the Frontier League’s Central division.
“I was looking for a fastball and I got one on the outside corner of the plate. I was able to get my barrel to it and I just ran hard,” Kraft said.
“We battled and to come away with a win (in the second game) is big for us to get us out of that rut we’ve been in for a while.
Kraft scored moments later on a sac-fly from Bryan De La Rosa.
Lake Erie battled with Miner’s starter Michael Austin through three innings before recording their first hit. In June, Austin no-hit the Crushers in the second game of a doubleheader.
This time Lake Erie was able to figure out the right hander to the tune of five hits and a pair of runs.
“The guys are battling,” Crushers’ manager Dan Rohn said. “We’re just playing undermanned. We’re short some guys but we’ve just gotta keep on plugging. That’s all we can do right now.”
Lake Erie closer JT Perez collected a four out save in the second game. Southern Illinois threatened in the top of the seventh, getting a runner to third with one out, but Perez locked down to secure the win.
Several Lake Erie players from the opening day roster are injured and out for prolonged periods of time, including a pair of starting pitchers. Position player Conner Oliver, who is out with a lower body injury, was in the dugout on crutches cheering on his teammates.
Crushers starter Sam Curtis went five innings, allowing four hits and a run earning a victory in Game 2.
In Game 1, Lake Erie collected just a pair of hits and failed to score. Former Midview baseball star Ryan Feierabend took the loss, allowing eight hits in five innings.
“Feierabend was outstanding again, he pitched us out of two innings where they had the bases loaded once and (runners on) second and third another time,” Rohn said. “(Feierabend) knows how to pitch and he knows how to get his spots when he needs to. We just struggle to score runs.”
The Crushers hit the road for a six game road trip on Aug. 27 with the first of a three game series against Schaumburg. Lake Erie will return home on Sept. 3 against Windy City.
“We’ve got Schaumburg six more times and Wind City four more times, so we still control our destiny. We’ve just got to play better baseball,” Rohn said.
On Aug. 26 both Windy City and Schaumburg picked up wins, keeping them atop the Central division. Lake Erie is just two games behind Windy City for second place in the division.