Crushers lose to Windy City to snap streak

AVON — It'll be back to work for Lake Erie on the road this week after its four-game win streak was snapped Sunday. Windy City's Garrett Christman threw a complete-game four-hitter in shutting out the Crushers 3-0 in less than two hours to end its own five-game skid. "You have to tip your hat to (Christman)," Crushers manager Jared Lemieux said. "He mixed his pitches nicely and we weren't able to string anything together." Lake Erie (13-14), in fifth place and seven games behind first, will embark on a six-game trip this week to the Tri-City Valleycats and the New York Boulders in hopes of climbing the ladder. Windy City (10-17) remains in last place in the West Division of the Frontier League. "I think we'll continue to play well," Lemieux said. "(Sunday) was a little hiccup, but baseball's a hard game and it doesn't always work out in your favor." Jarrod Watkins had two of Lake Erie's four hits and started a mini-uprising in the ninth inning that had the game-tying run at the plate for the final two outs. "I thought that last inning was a great response to the whole day," Watkins said. "(Christman) was kind of dealing, throwing good pitches and mixing, and I thought we just competed that last inning." With one out, Watkins singled to left and was safe at second on Santiago Chirino's grounder up the middle that shortstop Jake Boone knocked down but was late in his attempt to force Watkins at second. Gabe Snyder flew out to left for the second out but a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position with hot-hitting Jack Harris up. Harris, batting .311 with four homers and 14 RBIs, bounced back to Christman to end the game. Lake Erie won five of seven games going into Sunday. Watkins is confident the Crushers can regain the momentum. "I think we're clicking on all cylinders right now," said Watkins, hitting .341 in 12 games. "Our pitching's good, our hitting's good and our defense has been there. When we put it all together, I think it's a good recipe for winning." Hard-luck starting pitcher Angelo Baez gave up two earned runs and five hits in six innings and the bullpen combination of Brayden Bonner, Sam Curtis and Trevor Kuncl combined for three shutout innings with no walks and a strikeout each. Baez's ERA (1.69) is among the league leaders. "Angelo ... that's a quality outing," Lemieux said. "That's a quality start from Angelo but you can't win if you don't score." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or at timothygeb@msn.com. Windy City 3, Lake Erie 0 ThunderBolts&emsp;&emsp;ab&emsp;&emsp;r&emsp;&emsp;h&emsp;&emsp;bi&emsp;&emsp;Crushers&emsp;&emsp;ab&emsp;&emsp;r&emsp;&emsp;h&emsp;&emsp;bi Martina&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;Watkins&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;2&emsp;&emsp;0 Boone&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;Chirino&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0 Spillane&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;Snyder&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0 Isaacson&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;Harris&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0 Yonamine&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;Tromp&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0 Matthews&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;Lawlor&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0 Coumoulos&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;Irizarry&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0 Morgan&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;Tuccillo&emsp;&emsp;2&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0 Riley&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;Blanke&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0 Cheely 2 0 1 0 Isaacs 1 0 0 0 Totals&emsp;&emsp;30&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;5&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;Totals&emsp;&emsp;31&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;0 Windy City&emsp;&emsp;020&emsp;&emsp;010&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;5&emsp;&emsp;0 Lake Erie&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;2 SAC — Coumoulos. SB — Cheely. E — Watkins, Baez. LOB — Windy City 6, Lake Erie 4. &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;IP&emsp;&emsp;H&emsp;&emsp;R&emsp;&emsp;ER&emsp;&emsp;BB&emsp;&emsp;SO Windy City Christman (W, 2-1)&emsp;&emsp;9&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;6 Lake Erie Baez (L, 3-3)&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp;&emsp;5&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;2&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;3 Bonner&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;1 Curtis&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;1 Kuncl&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;1 HBP — Yonamine (by Baez). WP — Christman. T — 1:47. A — 1,063.