Boomers beat Crushers to finish off sweep

AVON — Lake Erie isn't exactly peaking with the postseason approaching. Derek Vegas tied the game in the sixth with a towering two-run shot to left field, but Schaumburg answered with three in the seventh and held on for a 14-7 win to complete the series sweep at Crushers Stadium on Sunday. "We're going to have to lick our wounds and come out ready to play next week," Lake Erie manager Jared Lemieux said. "We've got a couple of teams looking to knock us down and we've got to play hard. We've got to execute a little bit better, but this is a good group. They have a strong fortitude. We'll take the day off, rest, recoup and get back to work on Tuesday." Lake Erie (50-38) enters the final week of the Frontier League regular season with a narrow lead on Washington in the central division. The Crushers host the Down East Bird Dawgs (from Kinston, North Carolina) on their final homestand beginning Tuesday, then travel to Joliet on Friday for the final three games. The Frontier League playoffs begin Sept. 3 with the wild card teams hosting Game 1 of a best-of-three series. The division winners will host the next two games Sept. 5-6. Schaumburg (55-35) and Gateway have clinched playoff spots and are in a tight battle for the west division. "This is what makes it fun," Lemieux said. "You play all year for these types of moments. These guys have worked hard to be in the position to have meaningful baseball being played at the end of the year. That's what it's all about, this is why we do this." The Crushers will look to get healthy before the postseason. Lemieux was optimistic that catcher Alfredo Gonzalez and shortstop Jarrod Watkins will be back this week. They'll also hope to avoid another setback on the injury front as closer Michael Brewer was removed from the game in the middle of the eighth inning after facing two batters. Brewer was called on despite Lake Erie trailing 9-6, faced two batters and summoned the medical staff to examine him. Lemieux said Brewer was just dealing with some soreness. He entered Sunday leading the Frontier League in saves with 15 despite not recording one since Aug. 5. He and former Keystone standout Brandyn Sittinger have been a dangerous one-two punch out of the bullpen all season for Lake Erie. Schaumburg again took advantage of Lake Erie errors. The Crushers committed three Sunday and 11 for the series. In the first, Lake Erie baseman Zach Campbell ran down a routine fly ball, but couldn't squeeze it, giving the Boomers two on with one out. Anthony Calarco gave Schaumburg a 1-0 lead with a liner to left field, but starter Dylan Spain got out of the jam with a strikeout and a flyout. The Boomers lived up to their name in the second. Kyle Fitzgerald led off with a solo home run and Chase Dawson delivered a two-run blast — both home runs landed in the kids playground in right field — to give Schaumburg a 4-0 lead. A ground rule double cost the Crushers a chance to score in the first, that wasn't the case in the second. Jaidan Quinn led off with a double and Campbell reached on a single, moving Quinn to third. Burle Dixon sacrificed Quinn home and Kenen Irizarry's shot to left — which came close to bouncing over the wall for another ground rule double — allowed Campbell to score from first. The Crushers had runners on second and third with one out. Irizarry tried to score on a wild pitch, but the catcher recovered in time to flip back to starter Christian Lopez for the out. Sebastian Alexander capped the rally with an infield hit that cut the Schaumburg lead to 4-3. But Schaumburg answered in the third. Aaron Simmons delivered a one-out single and Fitzgerald drove him home with a double. Alex Calarco made it 6-3 Boomers with a grounder up the middle. Lake Erie methodically chipped away until Vegas tied the game in the sixth, but the Boomers came roaring back with three in the seventh and three in the eighth. "That was a big swing by Vegas and some big at bats leading up to that," Lemieux said. "These guys aren't going to quit. We've got some good ballplayers and it should be an exciting finish to the year for us." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.