Washington Holds On To Take Opener, Gets to 2.5 Back of 1st
AVON, Ohio (August 10) - The scoring didn't start until the eighth inning of the ball game in the series opener at Mercy Health Stadium between the Crushers and Wild Things, but after that, nine runs came and Washington held on to win 5-4 after leading 5-0 to take the opener. With the win and a loss by Sussex County, the Wild Things now trail first place in the Northeast Division by 2.5 games.
Each starter pitched their outing without allowing a run in the series opener between the two teams, who both entered the game fewer than four games back of first place in their respective divisions. Steven Colon allowed four hits through five innings of scoreless ball. He walked five, including one intentionally, and fanned five Crushers. Lake Erie starter, lefty Paul Hall Jr made his 2nd start against the Wild Things in 2021, and after losing his first one on May 31, pitched his way to a no decision. He struck out seven over six scoreless and allowed five hits to just one walk.
David Mervis pitched 1.1 scoreless in his Wild Things' and pro debut before leaving for BJ Sabol to enter the game after Taylor Sugg got Lake Erie through a scoreless seventh inning. Sabol got a flyout but then walked the bases full and was lifted in favor of Dan Kubiuk, who came in and fanned Karl Ellison to keep it scoreless.
Leading off the eighth inning, Nick Ward homered to left field the opposite way to open the scoring. Washington ended up adding two more in the inning, unearned. After Andrew Sohn reached on an error, he scored when Bralin Jackson softly lined a ball in front of the right fielder for a run-scoring single. Grant Heyman reached on a fielder's choice and went to second on a ball by the catcher. He then scored on a base hit by Hector Roa to make it 3-0.
Kubiuk pitched a scoreless eighth. Washington added more in the ninth. Nick Ward lifted an RBI double to right center before Sohn dribbled a ball toward third to score a run on an infield hit.
Lake Erie scored four times with an RBI hit from Connor Oliver, a single by Trevor Achenbach on which an error was made to allow a run to score and a groundout to score a run by Karl Ellison. Zach Strecker fanned Brody Wofford to close the game.
Also in the midst of the game, Scotty Dubrule singled to extend his on-base streak to 21 games to start his pro career. It's now the fifth-longest and it's a tie there, in the Frontier League this season. Both at 21 are active (New Jersey's Jason Agresti). Andrew Sohn had a two-hit night to extend his hit streak to nine games and his on-base streak to 13 games. Both of those built on season-highs for Sohn.
The series continues tomorrow with the middle game at 7:05 p.m. from Mercy Health Stadium. Subscribers to Frontier League TV can watch the game at frontierleaguetv.com or on the Frontier League's streaming app, available on the Apple and Google Play stores. Subscriptions for the final month of the season after a 7-day free trial are available for just $25. Sign up today.
In Wednesday's middle game, lefty Ryan Hennen (8-2, 2.58 ERA) will take the mound for the Wild Things and will be opposed by Lake Erie right hander Jake Pilarski (2-2, 5.35 ERA).
