Crushers come through late, beat Otters to snap four-game skid

AVON — Kenen Irizarry wasn't going to let another game slip away for the Lake Erie Crushers. Irizarry launched a triple to the left-center field gap to drive in Sean Cheely from second base in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Crushers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 8-7 win over Evansville on Friday night at Mercy Health Stadium. "We feel good, I feel great," said Irizarry, who had two hits and two RBIs. "Sometimes I get two hits while lost and feel bad. When we win and we do good, I feel great." Lake Erie (15-22) remains in last place in the Western Division of the Frontier League. The Crushers built what appeared to be a comfortable 5-1 lead after four innings but the second-place Otters (22-14) wouldn't roll over. Evansville tied the game at 7 by scoring a pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth innings and appeared on the verge of pinning another loss on Lake Erie. "I was down in the count (1-2) and I was thinking fastball and he threw me the fastball when I hit the triple," Irizarry said. "We still felt comfortable with that score (7-7). We try to do our best every inning." The Crushers outhit Evansville 12-9 but Evansville hit three solo home runs to keep the heat on. Jake Gitter hit a solo homer for Lake Erie and took away a home run by Elijah Macnamee in the fifth inning with one man on. Gitter leaped at the left field fence and pulled Macnamee's drive into his glove. Trevor Kuncl, the fourth of five Crushers pitchers, got the win. Alexis Romero got the save. Cheely had three hits, scored three runs and stole a base for Lake Erie. Jackson Valera had a hit and two RBIs. Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or at timothygeb@msn.com.