AVON, OH –The Lake Erie Crushers scored five late runs to break open a 3-3 tie and defeat the ThunderBolts 8-3 at All Pro Freight Stadium Wednesday night.
The Crushers got the game off to a strong offensive start. Craig Hertler homered to lead off the bottom of the first and Emmanuel Quiles and Andrew Davis followed with back-to-back doubles to make it 2-0.
The ThunderBolts answered with a run in the top of the second. Ryan Tufts reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error. Two straight groundouts brought him home.
Anderson Hidalgo’s home run in the third made the score 3-1 in favor of Lake Erie, but the ThunderBolts were quick to respond, scoring twice in the fourth. Davidson Peguero had an RBI single and White had a sacrifice fly in the two-run rally.
After Travis Tingle had settled down and retired five straight hitters, the Crushers got to him again in the fifth. Quiles singled, David doubled and both scored. The former crossed the plate on a passed ball and the latter on a sacrifice fly. They added a run in the sixth when Adam Ford walked and eventually crossed the plate on a Trevor Stevens single.
The Crushersscored once more in the seventh. Quiles reached on an error and Hidalgo singled him home, and they finished the scoring in the eighth on a Ryan Hutchison solo home run.
Zach Gordon (2-2) went a career-long six innings for the win and Tingle (6-4) gave up five runs (four earned) in five innings for the loss.
A combination of four Lake Erie pitchers retired the last 17 ThunderBolt hitters.
The ThunderBolts will continue their three-game series with the Crushers on Thursday night. Josh Spence (0-5, 5.82) will get the start in game two against Lake Erie’s Todd Kibby (5-2, 2.22). First pitch from All Pro Freight Stadium is scheduled for 6:05 and the broadcast can be heard on WXAV 88.3 FM and wxav.com.
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