Art Joven made his second start in the teal and black, striking out six Crushers. Late walks proved costly for the left-hander as multiple inherited runners eventually came around to score.

Joven finished allowing five runs, four earned, two hits and four walks.

Finding themselves trailing for the first time this season, it was a first-inning sacrifice fly that brought home the opening run for Lake Erie.

Great two-out hitting on a 1-2 count then put Kasten Furr aboard with a single. Furr swiped second before Andrew Semo delivered his first clutch hit of the night, driving in Furr with a single to give Mississippi a 3-2 lead.

Unfortunately for Mississippi, Lake Erie answered every run the Mud Monsters scored. The Crushers loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the sixth after Joven hit the leadoff batter and walked the next two aboard.

Mud Monsters manager Jay Pecci turned to the bullpen and brought in Connor Langrell. Facing Lake Erie first baseman Alfredo Gonzalez, Langrell surrendered a base hit back up the middle on his third offering, scoring two runs and giving the Crushers a 4-3 lead.

Langrell recorded the inning’s first out on a sacrifice fly that extended the lead to 5-3. A single followed, but Langrell responded by striking out Samuel Benjamin for out number two before inducing a pop out to Holt to strand runners at first and second and limit the damage.

With the game tied entering the bottom of the eighth, Forsyth remained on the mound and recorded the first out after getting James Jett to ground out 6-3. Back-to-back two-out singles followed for the Crushers, putting two aboard.

On the next batter, Samuel Benjamin, a pitch clock violation against Forsyth opened the count at 1-0. Benjamin then took the first actual offering from the Mississippi reliever and split Booker and Skinner in right-center field for a two-run double to give Lake Erie a 7-5 lead.

Forsyth then spiked a pitch to Garrett Pike that got past Semo, allowing Benjamin to move to third. Pitching coach Kurt Takahashi visited the mound to settle down the right-hander, but the next batter, Pavin Parks, singled home another run to extend the lead to 8-5.

A hit by pitch followed, loading the bases with nowhere to put anyone. Forsyth then issued back-to-back run-scoring walks before being relieved by position player AJ Fritz.

With Lake Erie now leading 10-5, Fritz made his second pitching appearance of the week after also taking the mound during Mississippi’s 13-5 loss in Florence. The infielder allowed Gonzalez to collect his second RBI single of the inning before finally recording the final out.