Lake Erie Plays Team Baseball, Defeats Florence 7-5

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Lake Erie Plays Team Baseball, Defeats Florence 7-5

Florence, KY - August 25, 2026 - The Lake Erie Crushers (37-52) continue to play spoiler as the month of August treads on. They came from behind on multiple occasions to beat the Florence Y’alls (50-40) 7-5 on Tuesday night to kick off a four-game series.

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After a tough start to the bottom of the 1st for LHP Coby Reeves, he got out of the inning only surrendering one run on a ground ball double play. Despite having the bases loaded and nobody out, Reeves showed some poise to limit the damage to just a run.

In the top of the 2nd, 2B Luis Acevedo demolished his eighth home run of the year over the left field wall to immediately erase the deficit. 

In the 3rd inning, Reeves pitched himself into another bases loaded jam, and this time he walked in one run. After that, a slow ground ball just past Reeves left Acevedo with no choice but to take the out at first, allowing one more run to score. Reeves struck out the two batters to follow to keep any more runs from coming home. Florence led 3-1 without the aid of a run-producing hit.

To start off the 4th inning, two straight doubles by Acevedo and SS Jarrod Watkins knocked in an early run to cut the deficit again. While the Crushers managed to load the bases with nobody out, they failed to score any more and settled for the 3-2 deficit.

In the 5th, 1B Brayden Jobert smoked an RBI single to cash in a leadoff hit from RF Jeron Williams. Jobert’s knock added to his hitting streak and tied the game three runs a piece.

The Y’alls didn’t let the tie last long, though. In the bottom of the inning, Florence DH Zade Richardson hit one deep off the wall in center field, which took an unfortunate bounce off the carom, giving him a stand-up triple and plating a run. CF Cole Brannen added a two-out RBI single up the middle to put home a second run. Florence regained their lead again, 5-3. 

That would close the book on Cobe Reeves, who had to grind through his third outing against Florence in three weeks. His final line: 5 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 7 K on 95 pitches.

C Ian Francis started off the top of the 6th inning with a nine-pitch walk with Lake Erie trailing by two. Then, LF James Jett singled to set up DH Joe Redfield with runners on the corners and nobody out.

Redfield hit a one-hop scorcher to 1B Hank Zeisler, who decided to try and gun down Francis at the plate, but an acrobatic, swim-move slide allowed Francis to evade the tag and score.

Then, with two outs, Brayden Jobert ripped another game-tying RBI single with a hot shot to center field. Capitalizing on the opportunity to take the lead, Luis Acevedo did just that by lining another one up the middle to plate two more. The Crushers scored four in the 6th with a big statement to take their first lead of the night, 7-5. Despite the wind and the waves, Reeves suddenly became in line for the win.

LHP Wesley Culley dominated in his two innings of relief. In the 7th he ran into men in scoring position with the tying run at second and just one out. Culley punched out Brannen and Baker to end the inning and kept the goose egg in the run column for Florence. Culley struck out six batters in just two innings, finishing with the impressive line of 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K on 36 pitches. 

RHP Alexander Castro hopped on the reliever train to deliver another scoreless inning in the 8th, and the train did not stop at the station because the conductor RHP Brandyn Sittinger blew the horn and called the game to a close, finishing off the Y’alls in the 9th. The Crushers extended their win streak to three and kept Florence on their, now, five-game slide.

Cobe Reeves (5-1) got offensive and bullpen help in a winning effort, Logan Jones (2-1) got pinned with the loss, and Brandyn Sittinger also earned his 13th save of the season.

The Crushers will play two against Florence tomorrow. Game one begins at 4:30pm ET and game two will begin thirty minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Catch all the action on the final road trip of the season on HomeTeam Network! The team returns to Avon for BOGO Fan Finale Weekend on September 4th. Go to LakeErieCrushers.com/BOGO to get your tickets and find out all about the huge promotional weekend to finish off the 2026 season!

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.