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BOX SCORE

AVON, OH- The Windy City ThunderBolts dropped the opening game of a three-game series against the Lake Erie Crushers 5-2 Friday night at Mercy Health Stadium. 

Windy City (9-16) took the lead in the ball game 1-0 with one out in the top of the first inning off the bat of Jake Boone, who mailed his first home run to left field.

It didn’t take long before Lake Erie (12-13) responded with a lead off walk drawn in the bottom of the first inning by Todd Issacs Jr. The following at-bat, Issacs Jr. stole second base, and then elevated to third base after a ground out by Crushers’ second baseman Santiago Chorino. A passed ball allowed Issacs Jr. to score knotting the score 1-1. 

Two-out situational pitching cost Windy City again in the bottom of the third. With two outs and no one on, starting pitcher Adrien Reese plunked Chirino for a free pass. Lake Erie first-baseman Gabe Snyder hit an RBI double scoring Chirino for a 2-1 Crushers lead.

Lake Erie piled two more runs on in the bottom of the fourth inning following a Kenen Irzarry RBI single and a run-scoring double play by Lake Erie catcher John Tuccilo, adding an insurance run for a 4-1 Lake Erie lead. 

Bolts third baseman Junior Martina led off the top of the seventh inning with a double. After a ground out moved Martina to third, he scored to chip the deficit to 4-2 when Paul Coumoulos hit a sacrifice fly to center field.

The Crushers took the run back from the bat of Jack Harris who smoked his third home run of the season to deep right field in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 5-2 Lake Erie lead that turned out to be the final.

ThunderBolts starting pitcher Reese (0-1) dealt six innings of work, releasing four hits and four runs (three earned) while walking three and striking out three in the loss.

Windy City is back in action with the second game of the series set for a 5:05 CDT start against the Lake Erie Crushers at Mercy Health Stadium. The pitching matchup features Cole Bellair (1-4,5.23) against Kyle Seebach (0-2, 5.01).