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Despite a solid pitching performance from Aviston, Ill. native Trevor Richards, the Gateway Grizzlies dropped Wednesday night’s game to the Lake Erie Crushers 4-0 at All Pro Freight Stadium.Â
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Richards (1-1) allowed only four hits and three earned runs in his second professional start while lasting for 7.1 innings. He struck out a career-high eight batters.
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The righty cruised through the game’s first four innings without allowing a hit, but the Crushers (13-19) scratched across two runs in the fifth. Joey Burney delivered Lake Erie’s first hit of the night to start the inning, while a two-out bloop single by Emmanuel Quiles made it 1-0. Richards then uncorked two wild pitches while facing Lake Erie’s Trevor Stevens, which allowed Quiles to score.Â
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For the second straight night, the Grizzlies’ offense couldn’t muster up much of anything against Lake Erie pitching. RHP Hunter Adkins (1-3) dazzled through eight scoreless innings. Gateway (12-23) put the first two runners on in the ninth inning but couldn’t plate a run.
The score remained 2-0 until the eighth inning, when the Crushers put runners on first and second with one out. Anderson Hidalgo hit a ground ball to shortstop that the Grizzlies’ Rolando Gomez couldn’t handle cleanly, which loaded the bases. RHP Scott Harkin came on to replace Richards, but allowed an RBI single to Burney and a run-scoring sacrifice fly to Austin Prott. Lake Erie held a 4-0 lead at the end of the eighth.
The Grizzlies’ lone offensive threat came in the third, when two-out hits from Cody Livesay and Richard Seigel put runners on first and second. Madison Beaird struck out to end the frame. Adkins would go on to retire the next 16 batters in a row to complete his outing.
The Grizzlies and Crushers play the final game of their three-game set tomorrow evening at All Pro Freight Stadium with first pitch at 6:05 p.m. central time. RHP Max Schonfeld (2-1, 2.61 ERA) takes the mound for Gateway against Lake Erie RHP Rob Blanc (0-2, 2.18 ERA). The game can be heard on the Grizzlies Radio Network, which airs on 101 ESPN’s digital channels and 1400 AM KJFF. Sam Levitt will call the action.
