Crushers split with Wild Things, fail to gain ground in Central Division

AVON — Lake Erie took one step forward and one step back Thursday. The Crushers won the first game of a doubleheader against Washington 5-1, but stumbled 6-1 in the second game at Mercy Health Stadium. Lake Erie (32-36) entered Thursday 41/2 games behind Schaumberg in the Central Division and four games behind Southern Illinois for the second wild card. Four division winners and two wild cards qualify for the Frontier League playoffs. The Crushers begin a six-game road trip today in Evansville. "We're just trying to string it together," said Crushers first baseman Steve Passatempo, who went 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored in Game 1. "We've got to try and gain maybe one or two games a week, take it day-by-day. You can't start looking ahead because we've got a month or so to go." The Crushers bats were out in force for Game 1, using three home runs to build a 5-0 lead. Passatempo got things started in the second with a solo shot. Connor Oliver made it 3-0 with a solo home run in the third, and later in the inning Brody Wofford drove in Passatempo with a towering shot over the right-field wall. Wofford also scored the team's other run in the second, reaching on a ground-rule double and then scoring on Eric Callahan's single. "I was just trying to get ahead in the count," Passatempo said. "Up 2-0, I was just trying to see something up. He gave me a pitch to hit and finally got some good wood on one. I think (it fired the team up), when the balls start flying at Mercy Health Stadium you never know." Washington (36-32) got on the board when Nick Ward connected on a home run down the right-field line in the sixth, but aside from that, Crushers starter Jake Pilarski pitched a gem — allowing three hits on one walk with seven strikeouts. Lake Erie also took an early lead in the second game thanks to a pair of two-out doubles in the first inning. Trevor Achenbach got to second on a perfectly placed blooper into right and Karl Ellison drove him in with a shot that bounced on the turf and off the top of the left-field wall, giving the Crushers a 1-0 lead. The lead was short-lived as Grant Heyman annihilated a pitch in the second that nearly hit the fence beyond the right-field wall for a solo home run. Cody Young gave the Wild Things a 2-1 lead with a leadoff home run in the third. Washington put the game away with four runs in the sixth. Lake Erie had its chances to even the score, but left the bases loaded in the second and couldn't capitalize with two on and one out in the fifth. Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeneyCT on Twitter.