Broomsticks busted

Crushers avoid sweep in 10-5 victory

CRESTWOOD, Ill. – The Lake Erie Crushers scored early and often on Monday afternoon at Standard Bank Stadium, as they belted out 10 runs on 15 hits in a 10-5 victory over the Windy City Thunderbolts to avoid a three game sweep.

For the Crushers, (14-22) the victory marked the third series out of their last four in which they’ve taken the finale, and the loss for the Thunderbolts (21-15) brought their seven game home winning streak to an end.  .       

Patrick Norris scored the first run of the contest in the top of the first inning, as he come home on a wild pitch, marking the first time in the series that the Crushers got on the board first.  Devin Shepherd tied the game at 1-1, after stroking an RBI single, giving him at least one RBI in the first inning of every contest of the series.

Lake Erie plated a trio of runs to snap the 1-1 tie in the top of the second inning.  Norris roped a single through the right side of the infield to plate both Kyle Boe and Zac Messer, and Norris scored later in the inning on Andrew Davis’s base hit.  The Thunderbolts plated their next run in the fourth inning on Zach Aakhus’s groundout which scored Brandon Anderson. 

The Crushers put up a four spot in the fourth inning to pull away.  Davis brought in Messer on a sacrifice fly to plate the first run, and the Crushers scored the next three with two outs.  Nick Mahin doubled in Jodam Rivera, before Kyle Shaffer and Boe stroked back to back run scoring singles. 

Nick Kuroczko’s sacrifice fly scored the first of two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and Anderson knocked in the final run on a base hit.  A pair of bases loaded walks provided the final two runs for the Crushers.  Rivera walked with the bases full in the seventh to score Shaffer, and Davis was issued a free pass with the bases loaded to score Messer in the ninth.  Mike Torres ripped a two out single in the bottom of the ninth to plate the final run of the contest.

Paul Daniels (1-0) tossed a pair of scoreless innings in relief to score his first victory of the season, while Kelyn Schellenberg (1) allowed just a run on a pair of hits over three innings to get his first save. 

Windy City ran through eight different pitchers on the afternoon, and issued eight free passes.  Matt Jernstad (3-4) was tagged with the loss after lasting just an inning and two-thirds, allowing four runs on five hits. 

Every player in Lake Erie’s starting lineup reached safely at least once.  Six players hit safely multiple times, including Messer who paced the Crushers with three hits, going 3-for-4 with a trio of singles and a walk.  Boe reached four times in five trips to the plate as well, with two singles and a pair of free passes.  Norris, Mahin, Shaffer, and Jason Taylor all recorded two hits a piece, with Mahin extendinghis on base streak to 21 games, and Taylor brought his to 17.  Davis drove in a team high, three runs on the afternoon.

by Andy Barch