Another night, another walk-off win for Crushers

AVON — For the third night in a row, the Crushers trailed by at least three runs. For the third night in a row, they rallied to tie the game in the final three innings. And for the third night in a row, they walked it off, this time 7-6 over Florence. After late comebacks Thursday and Friday, the Crushers found themselves trailing early Saturday night, falling behind the Y'alls 4-0 before they even came to bat. Even after they cut the deficit in half with a pair of runs in the second, another night of heroics seemed like a long shot when the Y'alls restored their four-run advantage in the fifth. "The boys didn't hang their heads," Crushers manager Jared Lemieux said. "They kept fighting, and that's what it takes to win in comeback fashion. You can't give up." Lake Erie got its first spark of hope when it pulled a run back in the bottom of the fifth on a popup that dropped in shallow center and allowed Alfredo Gonzalez to score from first. "He's a spark plug for us," Lemieux said. "He's always ready to make any type of play, whether it's coming up with a big hit, a hustle play on the bases, making a key defensive move, or calling a great game behind the dish." Gonzalez's hustle on the bases started the comeback, and it continued with a solo home run from Davie Morgan in the sixth and back-to-back RBI hits from Sam Franco and Derek Vegas in the seventh to tie the game. The Crushers threatened but did not score in the eighth, but a fourth consecutive scoreless inning from their bullpen set them up to bring home the win in the ninth. "(Dayan) Reinoso, that's a key outing," Lemieux said. "Coming in with a guy on second base and getting a big out, and then putting up a zero the next frame. That allowed us to edge back and didn't give them any momentum. And then (Brandyn) Sittinger and (Michael) Brewer come in and do their job." The ninth began with a pinch-hit double from Jaiden Quinn, which was followed by a Morgan walk and a wild pitch that gave the Crushers runners on second and third with no outs. With the winning run 90 feet from home, it was Kenen Irizarry who stepped to the plate looking to play the hero for the second time in three nights after his tying grand slam in the bottom of the ninth Thursday set up a 10th-inning walk-off walk for the Crushers. "I was looking for my fastball," Irizarry said. "At first he was throwing me balls outside, and then when I was ahead in the count, I just wanted to drive the ball to the outfield." Irizarry was able to do just that, hitting the fifth pitch of the at-bat down the left-field line, where Y'alls left fielder Hank Zeisler lost it in the lights and it dropped, allowing Sebastian Alexander to score the winning run for the second time in three nights. "It's very impressive, we've got three walk-offs in a row," Irizarry said. "It's fun to see our players doing so well in the late innings." Since coming over from Quebec, Irizarry has been a key piece for Lake Erie, providing a solid bat at the bottom of the lineup and excellent defense at third base, highlighted by a fantastic diving play in the fifth inning Saturday. "He had that fire again to come back and contribute immediately," Lemieux said. "He wasn't getting as much playing time in Quebec, and he's taken it and ran with it. He's been fantastic for us, he allows our lineup to turn over and he's contributing on both sides of the ball." As the Crushers try to maintain their slim division lead over the Wild Things, every win is important, and getting them in walk-off fashion only makes it sweeter. Contact William Cunningham at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.