Sauget, Ill – The Crushers decided enough was enough. After losing five straight games, Lake Erie bashed 20 hits and got another solid outing on the mound from Paul Fagan as they battered Gateway 10-2 at GCS Ballpark on Saturday night.

Every player who started for the Crushers got at least one hit. Jodam Rivera led the way with four hits, while Arden McWilliams and Tim Binkoski added three hits. McWilliams helped get the Crushers going early on, as he hit solo homers in the second and fourth innings to give Lake Erie a 4-0 advantage. “I felt really good tonight and got myself into some good fastball counts,” said McWilliams afterwards. “My power is to the opposite field and I was able to get some balls out there to right.”

Eddie Tisdale would get his first professional home run in the fifth inning as he blasted a three run shot to right to put the Crushers ahead by a 7-1 margin. Lake Erie then tacked on two more runs in the sixth on an RBI single by Gordon Gronkowski and an error by Gateway’s Brandon Johnson. Gronkowski then finished the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Meanwhile, Fagan was in complete control for the Crushers, going six strong innings allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts to post his Frontier League-leading eighth win of the season. Cristobal Mata and Jacinto Gonell combined to throw three innings of scoreless relief while Mark Brackman took the loss for Gateway.

The Crushers improve to 26-23 on the season and will meet the Grizzlies in the series finale on Sunday. Brent Lysander will start against Jamie Arneson. “It feels good to get a win again,” said McWilliams. “Now we have to build on this and keep moving.”