Frontier League: Long night ends badly for Crushers, who fall to ValleyCats for their sixth loss in the last seven games

AVON — Lake Erie lost left fielder Lamar Briggs to injury in the first inning Saturday, then it got worse from there. Tri-City scored six runs in the seventh inning on its way to handing the Crushers a 9-2 loss at Crushers Stadium. The game got started with a bang for the Crushers when Tri-City's Javeyan Williams, the second hitter of the game, hit a sinking line drive down the left-field line that fell just out of the reach of a diving Briggs and went to the wall for a triple. Briggs tried to get up and chase the ball, but quickly went back down to a knee, then to his back. He was forced to exit the game, leaving Lake Erie without its starting left fielder. Tri-City took advantage and added a sac fly and a pair of doubles to take a 2-0 early lead. The Crushers went down quickly in the bottom half of the first, then after just a few pitches in the top of the second, there was a delay of nearly half an hour for treatment for one of the umpires. Lake Erie starter Jack Eisenbarger had already allowed a pair of runs on three hits, and now was forced to deal with an extended break in the middle of an inning. It would not have been a surprise to see the game quickly spin out of control for the Crushers, but Eisenbarger responded admirably, allowing no more than one baserunner in each of the next four innings and keeping the ValleyCats off the board. "I thought Jack had pretty good composure to handle that extended break," Crushers manager Jared Lemieux said. "I'm proud of the way he was able to handle it, settle in and give us six strong innings." All of Eisenbarger's good work was almost undone in the sixth when he was relieved by Leonardo Rodriguez. But with runners on first and third, Rodriguez forced a flyout to end the inning. In the bottom half of the inning, the Crushers got back-to-back singles from Burle Dixon and Alfredo Gonzales, then tied the game when Dixon came home on a fielder's choice. Things unraveled for the Crushers after that, however, as the ValleyCats sent 10 hitters to the plate in the seventh, scoring six runs on six hits and taking a commanding 8-2 lead. Tri-City may have scored six in the seventh, but it really only needed one as Lake Erie didn't have a hit in the final three innings, finishing with just six. "We just couldn't get anything going," Lemieux said. "We needed a few more big hits, and when you only get six hits in a ballgame, it's going to be tough to win." Tri-City needed only two pitchers to get through the game. After Connor Wilford went six strong innings, allowing two runs on six hits with three strikeouts, Duke Brotherton came in for three hitless innings to finish off the win. The loss dropped the Crushers to .500 on the season and into second place in the Frontier League Central Division. It was also their sixth loss in the last seven games. The teams will meet again today to close out the series at 1:05 p.m. Contact Will Cunningham at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.