Lake Erie Peppered By Otters in Rubbermatch, Drop Series in Evansville

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Lake Erie Peppered By Otters in Rubbermatch, Drop Series in Evansville

Evansville, IN - August 16, 2026 - The Lake Erie Crushers (33-49) scored often on Sunday afternoon at Bosse Field, but the Evansville Otters (51-33) score more often and in crooked numbers as they took home the victory and the series win in an 11-6 victory over Lake Erie.

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After a quick four-pitch top of the first by Evansville RHP Colby Morse, 3B Marcos Gonzalez smashed a two run HR to put the Otters up 2-0 at the end of the first inning. 

Evansville plated another run in the 2nd on a sacrifice bunt, then DH Logan Brown lined a ball to right field driving in two more, giving the Evansville Otters an early 5-0 lead at the end of two.

SS Angel Mendez drew a one-out walk in the top of the 3rd inning, then after stealing second base, LF Joe Redfield lined one just over Evansville 2B Amani Jones to drive in Mendez. The Crushers got one back to make the score 5-1.

Lake Erie attacked Morse early in the 4th with a lead-off single by 3B Pavin Parks, followed by a one out single from 1B Jacob Tobias. A four pitch walk to 2B Luis Acevedo loaded the bases with two outs. With the vineyard full of grapes, Mendez came back up the plate and was plunked on the full count pitch to score Parks. 

With the bases still loaded DH Chase Nixon smacked a single to right field to score Tobias, but confusion on the bases led to the Crushers running themselves out of the inning. Angel Mendez didn’t pick up his third base coach and attempted to go first to third on the play, but Mark Mason had held up the stop sign for Acevedo. With Mendez caught between second and third, Acevedo broke for home, but the Otters gunned him down to quell the threat with the Crushers settling for just two runs, now trailing 5-3.

Evansville responded quickly in the bottom of the inning when T.J. Salvaggio homered to left field. Then, the Otters scored two more runs in the inning to erase the work the Crushers offense had done. They led 8-3 exiting the 4th. LHP Edwin Sanchez finished five innings but was tagged for eight runs (seven earned).

Joe Redfield, who was red hot all week, led off the 5th inning with a leadoff double. A broken bat ground ball from RF Jeron Williams allowed Redfield to score. It was the third straight inning with a run for the offense as the Crushers got another one back and made it 8-4.

In the top of the 6th inning Tobias smashed a near-homer off the top of the center field wall, then Acevedo blooped an RBI single to left field to drive in Tobias. On the play, Acevedo was thrown out trying to stretch into a double, and while the Crushers made it an 8-5 game, they ran into another out on the bases.

Despite cutting the deficit to three, the Otters landed an RBI double by 1B Blake Robertson to cash in on some two-out hitting in the bottom of the 6th to re-extend the Evansville lead to 10-5.

Evansville pushed across another run in the 7th to make it 11-5, and while the game was a bit out of reach, former Otter Pavin Parks launched an opposite-field solo homer in the 8th, putting him just one long-ball away from tying the Crushers’ single-season franchise record. His homer made it 11-6, and that score would hold as final.

Crushers RHP Ben Petschke responded to a rough outing on Saturday by putting a zero on the scoreboard to finish out the 8th inning, but the Otters scoring in five of their eight offensive innings was plenty enough to propel them to a series win.

Colby Morse (5-0) got the win for Evansville, and Edwin Sanchez (6-6) was tagged with the loss.

After the off day on Monday, the Crushers return home to ForeFront Field on Tuesday, August 18th at 6:30pm for $2 Tuesday. Tickets are available at LECrushers.com.

Crushers 2027 season tickets are now on sale! For information on 2027 season ticket memberships visit lecrushers.com or call (440) 934-3636, and be sure to follow our socials @LECrushers on Instagram/Facebook/X.

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About the Lake Erie Crushers

The Lake Erie Crushers are a professional baseball team based in Avon, Ohio, just 18 miles west of Cleveland at ForeFront Field. They compete in the Frontier League, a proud MLB Partner League, and have brought a family-friendly, fan-oriented baseball experience to Northeast Ohio since 2009. As Lorain County’s only professional sports franchise, the Lake Erie Crushers are the largest economic driver in Lorain County, hosting more than 200 events per year that include over 50 baseball games, concerts, charity functions, and other events that bring the community of Avon together. Len Komoroski is the Crushers Chairman and Managing Partner, and the team is led by President Vic Gregovits. Jared Lemieux, a Maine Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, is in his fourth season as field manager.