First managerial change

Chris Mongiardo (36)

The Frontier League's first managerial change of the season happened Monday when the Lake Erie Crushers dismissed Chris Mongiardo and replaced him with Cameron Roth, who was the Schaumburg Boomer's pitching coach.

Mongiardo was in his third seasons as Lake Erie's manager and in his seventh season as a manager in the Frontier League. With the Crushers, "Mong" had a 106-120 record including a 17-19 record this year.

Mongiardo was the manager of the Richmond Roosters from 2003-05 and spent seven games as manager of the Canton Crocodiles in 1999. He also was the pitching coach for Richmond in 2002, when the Wild Things and Roosters played in the Frontier League championship series.

Mong's trademark was he has never seen a pitching change he could not make. In 36 games this season, Mong made 159 pitching changes, an average of almost 4 1/2 per game. Lake Erie, by my count, has made more roster changes this season than any Frontier League team. I'm not sure if the ever-changing roster of the Crushers had anything to do with its new owner wanting to change managers.

The Crushers are in fifth place in the East Division but only 4 1/2 games games out of first place.

Owner Tom Kraming told the Lorian Morning Journal, “We had run into a situation where we felt like we needed to move now,” Kramig said. “I didn’t like the direction the ball club was heading on the field.

“And it was primarily a communication issue between ownership, the front office and Chris. That’s pretty much as far as I’ll go.”

Roth, 27, is a former Schaumburg player who is a native of Virginia. He has no managerial experience.

Lake Erie's next game is Tuesday night at home against Florence.