by Story by Tony Carter
Trailing by 6 runs going into the bottom of the 8th inning, the Lake Erie Crushers put together 2 runs. In the 9th, the Crushers rally fell short, scoring 2 more runs, and eventually falling to the Gateway Grizzlies by a score of 6-4. In this three-game set, Lake Erie struggled offensively, unable to produce a win.
Gateway had no answers to Yasel Santana’s stuff the first time through the order. In the first 3 innings of play, Santana struck out 2, and allowed only 3 Gateway hitters to reach base. He showed great command, painting the corners and forcing weak contact from the Gateway lineup.
After 3 scoreless innings on either side, the Grizzlies struck first. In the top of the 4th inning, Santana walked 2 batters in a row after retiring the first two hitters. With runners on second and third, Grizzly right fielder Jairus Richards drove in a run with a single.
The following inning, Santana lost the strong command he had in previous innings. Grizzly third baseman Mark Vierling and second baseman Gabe Holt singled in back-to-back at-bats. Eric Rivera stepped in the batter’s box and delivered a 3-run bomb over the left field wall. As soon as the ball left his bat, Rivera immediately flipped his bat and watched as the ball sailed well over the wall.
In the top of the 6th, Santana continued to try and battle his way out of each at-bat. After collecting 2 quick outs, Santana could not get out of the inning. Catcher Alex Hernandez walked and Vierling walked. Holt slapped another single down the left field line. With bases loaded and two outs, Santana walked Rivera as Gateway’s sixth run crossed the plate. Concluding Rivera’s at-bat, Santana’s day was done. Tossing 100 pitches, Santana finished with 5.2 innings, 7 hits, 7 walks, 5 earned runs, and 1 strike-out.
Down by 6 with 6 outs remaining, the Crushers finally strung hits together. Right fielder Jack Harris and first baseman Gabe Snyder each hit a double over the head of Gateway’s Richards. Third baseman Brenden Dadson drove in Snyder a few batters later, flaring a ball into shallow center field.
The 9th inning saw a similar story. Shortstop Kenen Irizarry singled to left, followed by a Todd Issacs base-on-balls sparked life into the Lake Erie crowd. Second baseman Jarrod Watkins hit a rocket down the right field line, doubling and driving in Irizarry. Harris kept the line moving, legging out an infield single to third. A bang-bang play at first. Issacs scored, but Watkins thrown out by Grizzly first baseman Peter Zimmermann, trying to move up from second to third. Snyder then hit a weak grounder to first base, ending the comeback.
Snyder, Harris, and Dadson led the Crusher offense with 2 hits and an RBI each. Issacs and Irizarry added 1 hit and 1 walk. Watkins went 1-for-5 with an RBI. As a group, Lake Erie struck out 9 times. Throughout this series, Lake Erie hitters went down on strikes 31 times, and scored 7 runs.
Lead-off man Gabe Holt led the Gateway offense and went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Penner added 2 hits and a walk. Rivera hit a homerun and gathered 4 RBI’s. Penner was the lead bat for Gateway this series, going 6-for-12 from the box, extremely efficient hitting.
Lake Erie falls to 8-10 on the year, 6 games back from the 14-4, division leading Grizzlies. The Crushers, along with 3 other teams in their division, stack up at 8-10. Lake Erie’s next 3-game series is against the Washington Wild Things out of Washington, Pennsylvania. First pinch in Washington is at 7:05 EDT.
