Alfredo Gonzalez's homer sparks Crushers to win over Mud Monsters

AVON — Alfredo Gonzalez gave Lake Erie the jolt it needed to wake up its offense. Gonzalez broke up Mississippi's no-hitter in the fourth with a towering home run, and Jaidan Quinn followed that up with a two-run blast of his own as the Crushers topped the Mud Monsters 8-6 at Crushers Stadium on Friday evening. Lake Erie (34-27) will try to maintain its lead in the Frontier League central division when it resumes its series with Mississippi (32-31) today at 7:05 p.m. "It was a huge jolt," Quinn said of Gonzalez's home run. "Their pitcher was cruising through us really well. That home run jolted the team. It was such a big swing from him. It's Alfredo, he always has those big swings and we love him for it." The Mud Monsters struck first on an unearned run when Kyle Booker ran out an infield single and the throw from pitcher Jack Eisenbarger sailed past first, allowing him to advance. Booker stole third and eventually scored on a fielder's choice. Mississippi added to its lead in the third when Brayland Skinner led off with a single, stole second and scored off of an opposite field double by Travis Holt. Starter Luis Devers was cruising through the first three innings for Mississippi. After surrendering a walk to Dario Gomez, he sat down the next 10, including a string of seven-straight strikeouts. Gonzalez ended that stretch emphatically with a home run that cut the Mud Monsters lead to 2-1. That woke up the Crushers. Scott Knotts followed that with a line drive into left field and then Quinn crushed the first pitch he saw over the left field wall to put Lake Erie up 3-2, all of the damage coming with two outs. Lake Erie wasn't done. Sam Franco strung a double and Devers hit the next two batters to load the bases for Kenen Irizarry, but he popped out to left. "He got me the first at bat," Quinn said. "I just had to see him a little bit deeper. I got the pitch I wanted, saw it as deep as I could and got a good swing on it. It paid off. I'm just really grateful for this team. After that first at bat, I got down on myself a little, but one of our pitchers just told me 'you're good, keep the faith.' That really helped me out." The Mud Monsters got a run back when Skinner and Booker both drew walks. Skinner picked up his third stolen base of the evening, then scored on a wild pitch. Lake Erie exploded for five runs in the sixth on a pair of two-run singles from Kenen Irizarry and Burle Dixon. Jarrod Watkins and Davie Morgan set up Irizarry with back-to-back singles, then advanced on a wild pitch. Gomez laid down a fantastic bunt for a single, then executed a double steal with Irizarry to set up Dixon. Dixon stole both second and third during Gonzalez's at bat, and he rewarded the effort with a sacrifice fly to deep center, putting the Crushers up 8-3. Mississippi added three more in the next two innings, but Lake Erie's one-two relief punch of former Keystone standout Brandyn Sittinger and Michael Brewer slammed the door. "They called the bullpen and brought in a lefty against me," Irizarry said. "I just wanted to hit the ball to the middle. When I saw the fastball, I just hit it to the middle. Gonzalez got us going. We wanted that momentum to keep going and score more runs." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.