Lake Erie outfielders Tim Binkoski, left, and Arden McWilliams had plenty to celebrate last week when the Crushers rallied from two games down to defeat River City for the Frontier League championship. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Crushers complete comeback, win league title
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published Sept. 30, 2009

What will they do for an encore?

The Lake Erie Crushers, an expansion professional baseball franchise in the Frontier League, came from two games down to win the league championship series last week. The Avon-based team defeated the River City Rascals, 13-10, in the fifth and deciding game to win the title in its first year of existence.

After dropping the first two games in Missouri, Lake Erie came back home to All Pro Freight Stadium to win the next two games, forcing a fifth game. Last Wednesday night in O’Fallon, the Crushers completed their improbable comeback.

Here’s a look at the team’s playoff run through the Crushers’ Dave DeNatale:

Crushers 6, Kings 2
The Crushers fought off Kalamazoo to win game five of the Divisional Series in 10 innings. Lake Erie won the best-of-five series three games to move on to the Frontier League championship series against River City.

The Crushers used a pair of two-run homers to break a 2-2 tie in the 10th inning as Tyler Johnson hit a blast to left field to put Lake Erie ahead by a 4-2 count.

Two batters later, Arden McWilliams launched a two-run shot to deep center field to provide the Crushers with a four run lead. J.J. Pacella pitched a perfect bottom of the 10th inning to close out the victory.

Lake Erie fell behind in the third inning as Jett Ruiz led off with a solo homer off of Paul Fagan to give the Kings a 1-0 lead. It would be the only run that Fagan would allow in his five and a third innings on the mound. The Crushers grabbed the lead in the fifth inning as Drew Saylor hit a two-run homer to left field to propel Lake Erie to a 2-1 advantage. It was Saylor’s first homer and first runs batted in of the series.

Alberto Rolon carried the slim Crusher lead into the ninth inning as he pitched two and two-thirds perfect innings. He struck out three and would give way to Ronnie Morales in the top of the ninth. Morales struck out Tim Brown and was relieved by Cardoza Tucker, who is normally a starter. Tucker got Matt Maloney to fly out but would give up a walk to Amos Ramon and a single to Destan Makonnen. With Ramon at third, Tucker threw a wild pitch to Ruiz that tied the game at two.

After walking Ruiz, Tucker got Kyle Higgins to fly out to keep the game tied at two, setting the stage for the Crusher offensive heroics in the 10th inning.

Rascals 6, Crushers 0
River City right-hander Josh Lowey combined with three relievers on a six-hit shutout as the Rascals defeated Lake Erie to take the first game of the championship series at T.R. Hughes Ballpark.

Lowey worked six innings allowing six hits, while striking out a season-high eight batters and walking three. Tony Marsala, Brent Solich, and Jason Lowey each threw a scoreless inning of relief out of the bullpen for the Rascals. Brent Lysander took the loss for the Crushers, allowing three runs on four hits in five innings of work for Lake Erie. He struck out five and walked four.

River City’s offense scratched out single runs in each of the first three innings to provide all the offense Lowey would need. JoJo Batten hit an RBI single in the first, Josh Banda slammed a two-out, solo homer in the second, and Lysander hit Danny Sawyer with the bases loaded in the third to give the Rascals a 3-0 lead.

The Crushers would not get a hit off of Lowey until the fourth inning, but in the sixth, they appeared to finally be on their way to scoring some runs. Andrew Davis, Gordon Gronkowski and Johnson started the inning with consecutive singles, but Davis was thrown out at the plate by Chris Colton, prompting a heated argument between home plate umpire Jim Schaly and Crushers manager John Massarelli.

Lowey was able to work his way out of any damage as he struck out pinch-hitter Tim Binkoski with the bases loaded to end the Crushers threat.

Rascals 6, Crushers 5
Lake Erie found itself on the brink of elimination in the series after falling in the bottom of the ninth. Scott Houin’s one-out single brought home pinch-runner Joe Chavarria with the game-winning run to give the Rascals a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

The Crushers failed to hold leads of 2-0 and 4-1 as the Rascals won their fifth consecutive postseason game. Eddie Tisdale got the Crushers off and running in the second inning with an RBI double, that brought home Gronkowski to give Lake Erie a 1-0 lead. The Crushers added to their lead in the fifth inning as Johnson hit a two-out RBI double to again score Gronkowski to push the lead out to 2-0.

Tucker would give a run back in the bottom of the fifth as the Lake Erie starter allowed a leadoff triple to Sawyer and then an RBI groundout to Jorge Gutierrez. In the sixth inning, Lake Erie would strike for a pair of runs as Todd Balduf and Davis each hit RBI singles to extend the lead to 4-1. But again River City would come right back as Ernie Banks hit a two-run triple off of Tucker and knock the Crusher advantage down to just a run. Tucker worked five plus innings on the night, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with six strikeouts and a walk.

Rolon relieved and got the Crushers out of the inning with no further damage. River City would get to Rolon in the bottom of the eighth as the first two men reached base and then were moved over on a wild pitch. Ryan Wehrle hit an RBI single to tie the game at four and then after the Crushers recorded a line out double play, Pacella’s wild pitch allowed Banks to score to give the Rascals their first lead of the night.

The Crushers rallied off Lowey in the ninth as Davis led off the inning with a double, Gronkowski followed with a single, and Johnson added an RBI single to tie the game at five. With the bases loaded and one out, pinch-hitter Binkoski hit a line shot to Gutierrez, who completed a double play with a flip to second. Gutierrez then started the winning rally for the Rascals in the ninth with a leadoff double off of Pacella.

Crushers 3, Rascals 1
Down two games to nothing and facing elimination in the championship series, Lake Erie used two weapons that have been effective for them all year long: Fagan and the home field advantage of All Pro Freight Stadium.

Fagan pitched seven dominant innings to lead the Crushers to the win. Fagan, who was the Frontier League’s Most Valuable Pitcher in the regular season, worked seven innings and allowed just a run on five hits. He struck out three and walked two to pick up his first victory in the postseason. Rolon worked a scoreless eighth inning and Pacella got the final three outs for his second save in the playoffs.

The Crushers opened up the scoring in the first inning as Jodam Rivera walked and Saylor followed with a two-run homer to left. The blast was Saylor’s second home run of the postseason. The Crushers tacked on a run in the second inning as Johnson led off with a bunt single, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Tisdale. After the Crusher outburst in the first two innings, River City starter Daniel Howard settled down and threw five scoreless frames to keep his team in the game.

River City would finally get to Fagan in the sixth as Houin led off the inning with a solo home run to right. Batten and Chad Maddox followed with consecutive singles, but Fagan was able to strike out Banks and then induce a double play grounder from Wehrle to get out of danger.

Crushers 4, Rascals 1
Lake Erie went through the first four and two-thirds innings against River City without a single hit off of starter Stephen Flake in game four of the series. Davis changed all that with one swing of the bat, as his grand slam homer powered the Crushers to a win to tie the best-of-five series at two games apiece in the final game of the season at All Pro Freight

Despite not allowing a hit through four plus innings, Flake had problems with his command and walked the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth, setting the stage for Davis’ heroics.

“I was just up there trying to battle the way our team has battled all year,” said Davis afterwards. “I worked the count full and got a good fastball to hit and great things happened.” The grand slam was the Chillicothe, Ohio native’s first homer of the postseason.

The Rascals started quickly off of starter Lysander in the first as Houin, Batten, and Maddox began the game with singles. Maddox drove home Houin to give River City a 1-0 lead. Lysander recovered from the early damage and would keep the Rascals off the board through four innings.

The Crushers then went to their bullpen as Josh Faiola, Gonell, Rolon, and Pacella combined to throw five scoreless innings. Faiola picked up his first victory of the playoffs, while Pacella earned his second save in as many nights.

Crushers 13, Rascals 10
Lake Erie capped off its remarkable inaugural season by winning the 2009 Frontier League Championship by virtue of this win over River City in game five of the championship series at T.R. Hughes Ballpark.

The Crushers used a seven-run fifth inning to erase a two-run deficit and power themselves to the championship as Johnson hit a three-run double and Balduf added a two-run single to highlight the hit parade.

“Doing this in year one, building a championship from scratch, that’s what made this so special,” a champagne-drenched Massarelli said afterwards. “This is just an amazing feeling to share this with this great group of guys.”

McWilliams had three hits and drove in three runs for the Crushers, while Balduf also drove in three. Tisdale added three hits and Davis, who was named the series’ MVP, scored two runs. Fagan, who worked two innings in relief of Tucker, picked up the win. River City reliever Tony Marsala was saddled with the loss.

On the Web:

• Lake Erie Crushers Official Site