Lake Erie blanks Washington in series finale
AVON, Ohio – It has been a strong start to the season for the Washington Wild Things, but their bats cooled off on Sunday.
Four Lake Erie pitchers combined to pitch a shutout in a 6-0 victory over the Wild Things at ForeFront Field.
The victory salvaged a game for the Crushers (11-10) after Washington (14-7) took the first two games.
Andres Parra pitched 4.2 innings and allowed five hits with five strikeouts and three walks. He was lifted one out shy of qualifying for a win.
The three relievers that followed did not allow a baserunner.
Brandon Noriega pitched 1.2 innings with two strikeouts to earn the win. Christian Scafidi followed with another 1.2 innings for scoreless relief with two strikeouts and Brandyn Sittinger pitched a clean ninth with one strikeout to finish out the game.
Lake Erie jumped out to an early lead on a first-inning two-run homer by Jacob Tobias.
Derek Vegas added an RBI single in the third inning to make it 3-0.
Those were the only three runs charged to starter Colt Anderson, who took the loss.
Anderson pitched 5.1 innings in his season debut. He yielded six hits and one walk and had two strikeouts.
Austin Eaton came on in relief and immediately was tagged for a run when he gave up an RBI double to Garret Pike.
Landon Ginn worked a scoreless seventh inning. Chad Coles came on for the eighth and was taken deep for a two-run homer by Alfredo Gonzalez that closed the scoring.
The Wild Things’ best opportunity to score came in the second inning.
Anthony Brocato and Antonio Monroy singled and Kyle Edwards walked to load the bases with no one out, but Parra struckout Ryan Ford and Isaias Quiroz and got EJ Cumbo to fly out to right field to nullify the threat.
Cumbo and Connor Peek hit back-to-back singles in the fifth inning, but again the Wild Things came up empty.
Washington went 4-2 on the road trip and ended the Month of May in first place in the Frontier League’s Central Division. The Wild Things return home Tuesday to play Gateway at 10:35 a.m. at EQT Park for the first of a three-game set.