Big Fifth Inning Leads Otters to Game Five Victory
Published on July 25, 2026 under Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Evansville Otters (38-25) pulled away in the fifth inning and never looked back as they took game five of six against the Mississippi Mud Monsters (27-38) on Saturday night, 7-5.
Junior Cerda took the hill for his third start of the season against John Walsh for the Mud Monsters.
A back-and-forth battle commenced for the first few innings, as the scoring started early for both sides. Evansville grabbed a run in the top of the first and Mississippi immediately responded with two in the bottom half.
Both teams traded runs in the third inning and the Otters tied the game up again in the top of the fourth.
Evansville would pull away in the fifth inning, scoring four runs on five hits, capped off by Jon Ponder's two-run single to make it 7-3.
The Monsters slowly put runs together to make it closer, scoring one in the bottom of the fifth and another in the seventh.
With the game close, Dylan Zentko and Alex Valdez combined for a scoreless eighth inning. Nate Wohlgemuth got the ninth and converted his second save of the season to give the Otters their third straight win.
Both Ponder and Marcos Gonzalez had three-hit games for Evansville, with Blake Robertson and LG Castillo contributing offensively in their returns to the lineup. Offense was lively on Saturday night, as all of Mississippi's top four hitters had multi-hit games, with Brayland Skinner going 4-5 in the losing effort.
Evansville is now 38-25 after the victory, clinching a season-series win against the Mud Monsters with a chance of winning the six-game series tomorrow.
The Otters try to win four straight road games for the first time this season in the series finale tomorrow against Mississippi at 6:01 p.m. CT at Trustmark Park.
All games can be heard on 96.9 WYIR and the Otters Digital Network and can be viewed live on the Frontier League Network on HTN.
The Evansville Otters are the 2006 and 2016 Frontier League champions.
The Otters play all home games at EVSC's Historic Bosse Field, located at 23 Don Mattingly Way in Evansville, Ind. Stay up to date with the Evansville Otters by visiting evansvilleotters.com, or follow the Otters on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For more information, visit evansvilleotters.com or call (812) 435-8686.
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