Crushers take down Evansville 4-2

AVON — Pitching and defense was the name of the game for Lake Erie at Crushers Stadium on Thursday night. Starting pitcher Ethan Smith struggled early but settled in and allowed only two runs, while a trio of relievers shut down Evansville over the final four innings of a 4-2 victory. The win keeps Lake Erie a game behind division-leading Washington, as the Crushers improved to 15-13 heading into an 11-game, 13-day road trip with one of the stops against the Wild Things. "The ball was coming out of Ethan's hand well and he left a couple pitches middle-middle in the zone," Lake Erie manager Jared Lemieux said. "He settled down and ended up making a good start for us." Smith only made two mistakes in 94 pitches and they both ended up over the fence. Dennis Pierce went deep to lead off the second and Pavin Parks crushed a ball into the Kids Zone in right with two down in the third. "Luckily, both of those were solo tonight," said Smith, who improved to 2-2. "I worked into some trouble with some (four) walks, but I got back on my legs and let my defense work for me today." In between the two long balls for Evansville (12-16), the Crushers picked up a run in their half of the second when Alfredo Gonzalez doubled to start the inning, went to third on a Burle Dixon sacrifice bunt and scored on a Davie Morgan ground ball. Lake Erie took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the fourth, with a little help from Evansville. Jarrod Watkins, Dario Gomez and Gonzalez all singled to start the inning to load the bases. Dixon hit a fly ball to shallow right that was dropped, allowing Watkins to score. Gomez came home on Derek Vegas' double-play grounder to third for a 3-2 lead. "I liked that we played clean defense today and you have to take advantage when they make mistakes on the other side," Lemieux said. The Crushers tacked on an insurance run in the fifth when Logan Thomason opened the inning with a double, moved up on an Alex Harrell sacrifice bunt and came home on a wild pitch. Brandon Scheurer was first out of the bullpen, going two innings and allowing a hit while striking out a pair before giving way to Brandyn Sittinger, who got a pair of foul outs and a strikeout from the three batters he faced. Michael Brewer came on in the ninth and gave up a leadoff single to Parks before getting a strikeout and fly ball to left and a foul out to Gonzalez at first to end the homestand on a positive note and win the series. "I'm really happy with Scheurer. It was the second time I got to see him," Lemieux said. "Sittinger got ahead and attacked, getting the job done, and Mike Brewer went back-to-back for the first time and that was a good job out of him." Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.