Aug 24, 2018 2 min read

Cody Lenahan hit two solo home runs, including one after a reversed called third strike, and the Lake Erie Crushers edged the Wild Things 3-2 Friday night.

It was a bad night all around for Washington, which dropped into a tie for first place in the Frontier League’s East Division with the Joliet Slammers, who won at Windy City. There are nine days remaining in the regular season.

Lenahan, Lake Erie’s cleanup hitter, homered in the third inning to give Lake Erie a 2-0 lead. The blast came off Washington starting pitcher Jacob Belina (1-2) and was two pitches after a third strike was reversed and ruled a foul tip.

Washington pulled to within 2-1 in the sixth inning on third baseman’s Ramsey Romano’s first professional home run. Lenahan, however, hit his second homer of the game and seventh of the season in the eighth inning to make it a 3-1 score.

Washington tried to rally in the ninth as Reydel Medina was hit by a pitch, advanced on a balk and scored on a two-out single by Kyle Pollock but the Wild Things couldn’t generate the game-tying run.

Washington did have Hector Roa at third base with one out in the seventh inning but he was stranded there following a foulout and a groundout.

Lake Erie starter Oriel Caicedo (2-4) pitched six innings for the win. He was followed on the mound by four relief pitchers with Logan Lombana getting the final three outs for a save. Washington was held to only five hits.

Belinda lasted only 31/3 innings. Dillon Sunnafrank followed with 22/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Prior to the game, Washington put shortstop Brett Marr on the 60-day disabled list with a broken bone in his hand and signed Dom Iero, who played two seasons in the Frontier League with Joliet.