Aug 6, 2017 5 min read

Memorable playoff pushes have been triggered by less than what happened when the Lake Erie Crushers’ Jordan Dean swung his bat in the fifth inning Sunday night in a game against the Wild Things.

The Crushers are hoping the result of that play will be the impetus for an August run to the postseason, but for now it will simply go down as one of the most whacky plays – and certainly the most bizarre and unlikely home runs – in any Frontier League game played in the 16-year history of Wild Things Park.

Dean, Lake Erie’s second baseman, stepped to the plate with one out in the fifth and the score tied 2-2. He lofted a deep fly ball to right field that chased Wild Things outfielder Hector Roa back and to his left.

“It was a tricky play but I thought Roa was going to be camped under it,” Lake Erie manager Cam Roth admitted.

But the baseball kept carrying as Roa approached the right-field fence. Running out of room to maneuver, Roa attempted to make a leaping catch of the ball. As he crashed into the fence, the ball glanced off Roa’s glove and fell behind him and onto the ground at the base of the fence.

At Wild Things Park, the turf warning track ends about six inches shy of the bottom of the fence. This area between the turf and fence is filled with sand. That is where the baseball landed.

Roa, however, could not see the ball. That’s because it was hidden from view, under a piece of an old vinyl sign that had been torn from the fence but not completely removed before another sign had been placed over the old one.

As Dean raced around second base and headed toward third, Roa shrugged and put his arms out to his side as to ask for help finding the ball. Then, as Dean headed for home plate, Roa spotted the ball, pulled it out from under the strip of old signage and threw it back to the infield.

Dean, however, had safely motored around the bases for what appeared to be an inside-the-park home run that gave Lake Erie a 3-2 lead. Home plate umpire Mike Martin and base umpire Sal Giacomantonio had a brief discussion about the play and ruled that it was indeed a home run and not a book-rule double.

Washington manager Gregg Langbehn had no qualms about the ruling that proved to be the final run in Lake Erie’s 3-2 victory. He said that Roa should have raised his hands, signaling the ball could not be found.

“The ball wasn’t playable,” Langbehn said. “If you can’t find the ball, then you can’t play. It’s a double. But once you go in for it, all bets are off. Hector made a mistake, but that wasn’t why we lost.”

Washington lost because for the second game in as many nights, they didn’t hit. Less than 24 hours after Lake Erie pitcher Juan Caballero stymied Washington with a one-hit shutout, the Wild Things mustered only four hits against Crushers starter Payton Lobdell (6-6) and two relievers.

Lake Erie won two of the three games in the series and continued a bad trend for the Wild Things. They have not won a series played at home since sweeping the Joliet Slammers June 30-July 2. The Wild Things have a 19-17 record at home but are 20-15 when playing on the road.

Washington received some help in the standings Sunday and remains in the final wild-card playoff spot with 25 games remaining. The Frontier League’s two division winners will make the playoffs, as will the two remaining teams with the best records.

“I’ve been checking the standings over the last week,” Langbehn said. “The players are definitely aware of where we are. It’s going to go down to the last week.

“What we need to do is find a way to win at home. We’re playing so well on the road, then we lose two out of three at home. The key is going to be finding a way to win at home.”

A little good fortune, such as Lake Erie had on Dean’s home run, also would help.

The series win moved Lake Erie to within five games of a playoff berth but Roth said it’s still too early to start scoreboard watching.

“We want to go out and play the game the right way and not worry about other scores,” he added. “We know where Washington is and where we are.”

A half inning before Dean’s inside-the-park home run – the fourth ever hit in a Frontier League game in Washington – Roa tied the score at 2-2 with a long solo home run. The homer was Roa’s team-leading 14th of the season and a no-doubter that struck a power line beyond the left-field fence.

Washington took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Kyle Reese’s grounder scored Mike Hill from third base. Lake Erie tied it on a solo home run by Brandon Murray in the third inning off Washington pitcher Ethan Gibbons (6-5), who was making his second start for the Wild Things. A run-scoring single by Conner Simonetti in the top of the fourth gave Lake Erie a 2-1 lead that was erased in the bottom of the inning by Roa’s home run.

Gibbons gave up three runs over seven innings. He struck out six.

“He did fine,” Langbehn said of his pitcher.