Slammers Sweep Lake Erie, Move 10 Games Over .500

The first place Slammers (36-26) got another outstanding pitching performance as they beat the Lake Erie Crushers (28-34) by a final score of 5-1 Friday night to sweep the series.

This time it was Jake Renshaw (7-3) who dominated the Lake Erie bats as he went eight plus innings to pick up the win.

With the victory the Slammers move to a season best 10 games over .500. They also matched their season-high winning streak of three games. It’s their second road sweep of the season and their fourth sweep overall.

The Slammers wasted no time jumping on the Crushers in the first. Josh Flores drew a walk to start the game and Brad Netzel followed with a double down the left field line. One out later Erik Lis smacked a sacrifice fly for his team leading 53rd RBI of the year and the Slammers took a 1-0 lead.

Flores and Netzel started another productive inning in the third. The speedy Flores singled to left and on a hit-and-run, Netzel singled him to third. After Hector Pellot was hit by a pitch, Lis drove another pitch to the outfield for his second sacrifice fly of the night. Then the Slammers caught a break as a David Fox grounder looked like a sure double play, but the throw to first pulled Jason Taylor off the bag and another run scored to make it 3-0 Slammers.

The Slammers got some insurance in the seventh as Bobby Leeper drew a walk, stole second, and scored on a Flores single. Flores went to second on the throw home and advanced to third on a ground ball out. He would score on a wild pitch to give the Slammers a 5-0 lead.

Renshaw held the Crushers to only two hits through his first eight innings of work. The team leader in complete games with two on the year went back to the mound in the ninth looking for his third. But a single, a walk, and a RBI single from Andrew Davis to make the score 5-1 chased Renshaw from the game. Joliet native Ryan Quigley came on to nail down his league leading 19th save of the season.

The Slammers return to Silver Cross Field for a three-game series with the Traverse City Beach Bums starting Saturday night. The Slammers are honoring Andrew Moss who threw a no-hitter against the Crushers on Wednesday. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m.