O’FALLON, Mo. – It’s crunch time for the Crushers.

Lake Erie is a game from having its dream season ended after suffering a 6-5 loss to the River City Rascals in the Frontier League Championship Series.

The Crushers are down 0-2 in the best-of-five series with Game 3 set for Sunday at 5:05 p.m. at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon.

The Crushers, who lost 6-0 Thursday, led 2-0 and 4-1 before the Rascals rallied to win it with a run in the bottom of the ninth.

The win was River City’s fifth straight in the postseason.

Eddie Tisdale got the Rascals going with an RBI double in the second. Tyler Johnson stroked a two-out RBI double in the fifth to make it 2-0.

Gordon Gronkowski scored both Crushers runs.

RBI singles by Todd Balduf and Andrew Davis pushed Lake Erie’s lead to 4-1 in the sixth, but the Rascals rallied as Ernie Banks hit a two-run triple off Crushers starter Cardoza Tucker to cut the lead to one. They eventually took a 5-4 lead on a wild pitch.

The Crushers tied the game at 5 in the ninth on a Johnson single and could have had more, but pinch-hitter Tim Binkoski’s line shot went directly to short where Jorge Gutierrez turned it into a double play.

Scott Houin won the game with a single in the ninth.

NEXT UP

• WHO: Lake Erie Crushers vs. River City Rascals

• WHAT: Game 3 of the league championship, River City leads best-of-5 series, 2-0

• WHEN: Sunday, 5:05 p.m.

• WHERE: All Pro Freight Stadium, Avon

• PITCHERS: Paul Fagan (14-3, 2.70 ERA) vs. Daniel Howard (6-5, 5.03)

• WEBCAST: Live on LakeErieCrushers.com.

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