By: Braeden Jones
September 5, 2026
AVON, OH – In the penultimate game in the Frontier League this season for both sides, it was the Lake Erie Crushers (41-59) who enacted revenge on the Joliet Slammers (42-59) and took the 10-3 win on Saturday.
The Crushers would deliver the first few runs of the game in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Nathan Archer would get a double to mark Lake Erie’s first hit of the game and Jeron Williams would be walked to follow. That would set up a 3-run homer from Brayden Jobert to clear the bases, giving the home team the first lead of the match at 3-0.
The Crushers would continue their scoring ways in the bottom of the 5th. Lake Erie would kick things off with two singles from Joe Redfield and Williams to get some runners on base. Simultaneous stolen bases from Williams and Redfield allow the latter to score as Redfield steals home from third base. Luis Acevedo would then lay down a hit that allowed him to reach second base off of a throwing error to also score Williams. That pushed the score to 5-0.
The Crushers would not let up as they would continue to add runs to the board in the bottom of the 6th inning. Garret Pike would begin with a single, and a double from Nick Chavez would shift Pike to third base. That would be enough for Pike to get himself home once a wild pitch was thrown and get Chavez to third. Redfield would bring Chavez home with an RBI single as the score now sat at 7-0.
The Crushers wanted to blow out the Slammers by double digits once the bottom of the 7th rolled around. Jobert would be walked and make it to second base soon after to set up an RBI single for Pike to score Jobert. Chayton Krauss would reach first base with a walk to get Pike to second. That would allow a single from Chavez to be enough to score Pike, and Archer got an RBI single to score Krauss. Lake Erie was rolling in this game, now leading 10-0.
The Slammers wouldn’t go down quietly in the top of the 8th inning. After two straight singles from Ian Battipaglia and Tyler Cerny, Jackson Beaman would procure a 2-RBI triple to score both of his teammates. Cam Suto would reward Beaman for that hit with an RBI single to bring him around to score, bringing the total to 10-3.
That would be all the scoring in this ballgame, allowing the Crushers to hand the Slammers the 10-3 loss.
The Crushers have tied up this series, meaning the series victory will come down to the final game of the regular season on Sunday. The Slammers will look to finish off the Summer 2026 season in the Frontier League with one final win on Sunday.
