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 Evansville Otters

Small Ball Looms Big as Otters Win Third Series in a Row with 6-2 Victory

May 28, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release


Avon, OH- The Evansville Otters (9-3) took advantage of the Lake Erie Crushers' (5-7) miscues and rode another impressive outing by Preston Olson (3-0) to a 6-2 victory at All Pro Freight Stadium.

The Otters had trouble getting started, going quietly in the first four innings against Crushers starter Peter Gehle. However, Olson battled Gehle to a stalemate until the bottom of the fourth when Ty Nelson made another Otters pitcher pay, hitting a solo home run for the second time in as many games and giving the Crushers a 1-0 lead.

While Gehle breezed through the first five innings, Jaime Del Valle disrupted his rhythm by singling to leadoff the sixth. Cory Urquhart was called to sacrifice and placed a beautiful bunt down the first baseline, not only moving Del Valle to second, but reaching base himself. That is when the small ball by the Otters and miscues by the Crushers turned the tide of the game.

Ronnie Richardson, who had been 0-for-2 trying to lay down sacrifice bunts entering today's game, put one down the third baseline where Gehle fielded it, looked towards third, and rushed his throw to first, throwing it away and allowing the tying run to score and leaving runners at second and third with nobody out. John Schultz's RBI grounder put the Otters in the lead and Shayne Houck's sacrifice fly to center gave them a two run cushion.

The Otters added two more in the top of the eighth inning, all with two outs. Richardson extended his hit streak to seven games with a double down the left field line before Schultz immediately followed with a single to right to drive in his second run of the game. A single by Houck put runners at the corners and Brad Duffy, reliever for the Crushers, threw two wild pitches to balloon the Otters lead to 5-1 before an error by the shortstop Juan Sanchez gave the Otters a 6-1 advantage.

Evan Mott pitched the eighth inning and allowed a leadoff home run to Emmanuel Quiles, but finished off the inning with a couple of groundouts. His little brother, Adam, was sent out in the ninth inning and the younger Mott pitched a perfect ninth, striking out the final two batters to seal the game and the third series win in a row for the Otters.

Kurt Wertz Jr. has now reached base safely in his last ten games and Shayne Houck continues to heat up, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and has now hit safely in seven straight games. Preston Olson's ERA drops to 1.42 and is the first Otters pitcher to win three games, keeping his record perfect at 3-0.

The Otters travel to Crestwood, Ill to take on the Windy City Thunderbolts for a three game series, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Friday's game starting at 7:05 CDT and the pregame show starting at 6:45. You can catch all of the action on WUEV 91.5 FM or on our website.

The Otters will not be back home until next Wednesday when the Otters play a double header against the Gateway Grizzlies with the first game scheduled to start at 5:35 CDT P.M.

Fans can purchase tickets by calling the team's front office at 812.435.8686 or online at EvansvilleOtters.com. For all of the latest information on the Otters, log on to EvansvilleOtters.com or follow the team's twitter account @EvilleOtters.


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