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AVON, OH – The ThunderBolts scored five runs in the eighth inning to come from behind to defeat the Lake Erie Crushers 5-4 at All Pro Freight Stadium Saturday night.

Matt Jernstad and Eric Gonzalez-Diaz were locked in a great pitchers duel through seven innings with Lake Erie scoring the only run in the third inning.

Matt Jernstad began that inning by hitting Kyle Boe. He then committed an error to put runners on first and second with no outs. After Jereme Milons moved the runners over with a bunt, Jodam Rivera singled home Boe to put the Crushers on top. That was the last hit that Jernstad would allow.

On the other side, Brandon Anderson singled to lead off the game and the Bolts did not get another hit until Mike Torres led off the seventh with a double. The ThunderBolts could not get him in and the game remained 1-0 until the bats broke out in the eighth.

Nick Kuroczko led off that inning with a single and with one out, Lee Rubin singled to put men at first and third. Tyler Keeble then came up with a base hit to tie the score moving Rubin to third base. With two outs, Mike Torres walked, loading the bases for Zach Aakhus, who lined a single to left, scoring two and giving Windy City its first lead of the evening. Gonzalez departed and Ruben Flores came on, quickly unleashing three wild pitches to score two runs and give the Bolts a 5-1 lead.

The celebration was short-lived as Jernstad departed in the eighth, having walked Milons. Brett Durand came on and, after a Rivera single, allowed a three-run homer to Andrew Davis, cutting the lead to 5-4. Durand settled in after that, recording the final five outs without interruption by a base runner and finishing a ThunderBolt win.

Jernstad gave up just two hits over 7.1 innings, picking up the victory (6-9) while Gonzalez was the loser (2-1).

The rubber match of the series pits Windy City’s Dustin Williams (10-5) against Lake Erie’s Josh Roberts (8-5). The game will be played at All Pro Freight Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 CDT. The Bolts will enter play 2.5 games behind Lake Erie for the final playoff spot. All game action can be heard on WXAV, 88.3 fm and wxav.com.

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