Late homer gets Crushers back to winning ways

AVON — Kenen Irizarry provided the energy — and power — that sparked the Crushers rally. The Lake Erie third baseman crushed a two-run home run over the right-field wall to start a three-run rally in the seventh inning that led to a 4-2 win against Joliet at Crushers Stadium on Tuesday evening. "They told me to hit through cutters," Irizarry said. "I took the first one to see how it looks, missed the second one and I said he's going to throw it to me again. So I sat on it and hit the home run. It was tough the past days because we lost three in a row. We started today winning, but then were losing, so when we got ahead it was nice to see everyone so happy." Lake Erie (41-30) continues its series with the Slammers (36-37) today at 7:05 p.m. The Crushers look to distance themselves from Washington for first place in the Frontier League Central Division, while Joliet is trailing both teams and chasing the final wild card spot in the Midwest Conference. The Crushers were swept by Washington over the weekend, which came after a seven-game winning streak. Windy City helped out Lake Erie by beating the Wild Things 2-0 on Tuesday, giving the Crushers a one-game lead in the division. "Joliet's the team behind us," Lake Erie manager Jared Lemieux said. "We knew this was going to be a playoff atmosphere type of a series. We were grinding away and able to find success even when the balls weren't falling for us. That was a big momentum inning for us because we want to take care of business against this very difficult Joliet team." The first baserunner of the game didn't come until the third inning when Sal Carricato led off with a single for Joliet. He reached third with two outs before catcher Alfredo Gonzalez made an error on a throw to third that sailed into left field, giving the Slammers a 1-0 lead. Not that it's much consolation for the Crushers, but Liam McCarthur followed with a single into right field that would have scored the run anyway. Lake Erie responded with its own leadoff single by Jarrod Watkins, then took advantage of a fielding error to put runners on the corners with one out for leadoff hitter Dario Gomez. He lined a single into center to tie the game at 1. The Crushers had runners on first and second but couldn't take the lead as Burle Dixon popped out and Gonzalez grounded out to short. Anthony Escobar gave Lake Erie a solid outing, pitching into the seventh and allowing six hits and two runs with three strikeouts. Joliet tagged him in the seventh to take the lead. Braylin Marine led off with a single, advanced to second and Chris Davis drove him in with a two-out double to the left-field wall, ending Escobar's night. Former Keystone standout Brandyn Sittinger came in and got the final out to end the rally. "He did great work working out of trouble tonight," Lemieux said of Escobar. "He's been so consistent for us. Even though he gave up that run at the end of his outing, it was nice to see the guys bounce back in the seventh and pick him up. "It's going to take every single one of the guys here in this clubhouse to go win a championship. When your nine hitter comes up with a big hit like that and your starter gives you a shot, that's your whole roster working up and down for that win. That's what it's going to take." The Slammers went to Cameron Smith for relief in the seventh and Lake Erie broke loose. All of the damage came after Smith retired the first two batters. He had a chance to get out of it when Davie Morgan looped a shallow fly ball to center, but Davis couldn't come up with the sliding catch. Irizarry crushed the home run in the next at-bat, giving Lake Erie a 3-2 lead. Gomez followed with a walk and Dixon added an insurance run with an RBI double. Sittinger came back out for the eighth and retired the side in order, including two strikeouts, improving to 3-1. Closer Michael Brewer picked up his 15th save. "That was a big momentum swing for us," Lemieux said. "It's nice to see Kenen find success for us and then Burle with the insurance run. I know he's been working hard, it's nice to see all that hard work pay off." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.