With 10 hits, hard-hitting Crushers top Burlington for second win of season

Canton’s Jake Bryant was 3-for-4 with two doubles in Sunday’s win over Burlington.

BURLINGTON, June 26 – The Canton Crushers exploded for four runs in the fourth and sixth innings to pull away from the Burlington Hunters with a 9-3 Tri-State League victory Sunday at Lewis Mills High.

Canton won their second game of the season with a 10-hit attack led by second baseman Jake Bryant, who was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Shortstop Heath Cotton was 2-for-4 with two doubles for the Crushers, now 2-8. Chris Van deBogart had two hits while Jeff Mulhall and Tom Dubois each had singles.

Winning pitcher Jim Spirito (1-3) went the distance on the mound, allowing five hits and striking out one.

Cotton’s two-RBI double in the fourth tied the game at 2-2. Cotton scored on Bryant’s RBI double to give Canton a 3-2 advantage. Bryant scored later in the inning on a RBI single from player/manager Tom Dubois to extend the Crusher lead to 4-2.

Cotton and Bryant led off the sixth inning for the Crushers with a double and single, respectively and eventually scored. Canton extended its lead to 8-2 with four runs in the inning as Burlington committed three errors and hit two Crusher batters. It was the fifth straight loss for the Hunters, now 1-11.

Canton returns to the diamond on Thursday when they host the Bethlehem Plowboys (10-3) at 5:45 p.m. in the first of five straight games at Bowdoin Field. The Crushers will host Tri-Town on Saturday morning, July 2, at 10 a.m.

Canton 9, Burlington 3
At Burlington
Canton (2-8)               000  404  1  — 9-10-2
Burlington (1-11)         020  100  0   – 3-5-4
Jim Spirito and Jeff Mulhall; Ty Morin, Andrew Bunger (6) and Dablain; WP: Spirito (1-3); LP: Morin; 2B: Heath Cotton (C) 2, Jake Bryant (C) 2