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The Lake Erie Crushers took on the Evansville Otters on Aug. 4 looking to take the rubber match in the series finale.

A fourth inning three-run blast by Elijah MacNamee put the Otters (39-29) over the Crushers (33-36), 6-5.

All-Star Joe Sgambelluri was chased after 4 2/3 innings, in part due to a blister on his thumb after giving up five runs.

PHOTOS: Crushers vs. Evansville, Aug. 4, 2022

“I think we weren’t able to get that bunt down in the fifth and I thought their one reliever Zack Smith threw the ball well,” manager Cam Roth said. “I thought (starter) Austin Gossmann threw the ball well, too. I thought Joe made a couple little mistakes and had a blister. We had to get him out of there earlier than expected but Ean Walda did a great job.”

“We set it up the best we could to try and win a baseball game, but if you can’t do some of the little things correctly, the odds are stacked against you.”

After falling behind, 2-1, in the third, Lake Erie pounced with Connor Owings mashing a solo shot to left field and Kenen Irizarry hitting an RBI single later in the inning to go up one, but couldn’t capitalize with the bases loaded and one out.

That’s where things got hairy for the Crushers. A walk and a single with no outs led to the MacNamee homer in the fourth before Evansville tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning to move to 6-3.

However, the Crushers still had a spark left in the eighth, with Austin White and Sean Cheely knocking in a run each to pull within a run. But after Cheely stole second and Bryan De La Rosa walked, Jake Gitter grounded into an inning ending double play with a soft tapper back to the mound.

The Crushers will hit the road to take on the Washington Wild Things before returning home Aug. 12.

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