Big Seventh Leads Otters to Second Straight Series Win
May 24, 2025 - Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Evansville Otters (7-7) used another seventh inning rally to beat the division-leading Lake Erie Crushers (9-4), 5-3.
The Otters sent CJ Backer to the mound for his third start and it got off to a rocky start. The Crushers pushed three across the board in the first but left the bases loaded.
The second inning started with three straight singles to load the bases for Lake Erie. After dialing up a strikeout, Backer would field a hard-hit ball back to him and turn around to deliver a strike to second, where George Callil would throw to first for an inning ending double play.
After that inning, Backer became unhittable. Using the momentum from that inning, he proceeded to pitch into the seventh, only allowing one hit and two walks during that time. Backer would finish with a quality start in the longest outing of the year for an Otter starter.
The offense took some time to heat up, only recording two hits through the fourth inning, but it finally came alive in the fifth. Evansville managed two hits and one run in each of the next two innings to push the score to 3-2 Crushers.
The Otters began the home half of the seventh red hot. Evansville opened the inning with four straight hits to jump on the first pitcher out of the bullpen for the Grapes. Callil singled, followed by a Graham Brown triple to tie the game. Alain Camou doubled in Brown to take the lead as the inning would be capped off by the double from LJ Jones to score the third run of the inning.
Grif Hughes came on to get the final out in the seventh, then shut down Lake Erie in the eighth. Nate Wohlgemuth was brought on in the ninth for the third game this week and delivered his third save of the season after he made a great snag on a comebacker that he would throw to first for the game-ending double play.
Evansville finished with nine hits in the final four frames to grab their second series win in a row against a team above them in the standings.
The Otters conclude their six-game homestand tomorrow afternoon in the first Dog Days of Summer game of 2025. Gates open at 11:30 a.m. CT with first pitch following at 12:35 p.m. as Evansville looks for their first sweep of the season.
The Evansville Otters are the 2006 and 2016 Frontier League champions.
The Otters play all home games at 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.
Frontier League Stories from May 24, 2025
- Thunderbolts Drop Sixth Straight - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Bird Dawgs Show No Grace to Mud Monsters, Win 9-2 - Mississippi Mud Monsters
- Big Seventh Leads Otters to Second Straight Series Win - Evansville Otters
- Bird Dawgs Break Loose Early, Bury Mud Monsters 9-2 - Down East Bird Dawgs
- Tom Vaeth Becomes Wild Things All-Time Winningest Manager - Washington Wild Things
- Bats Go Cold Late, Crushers Drop Middle Game in Evansville - Lake Erie Crushers
- ThunderBolts Drop Sixth Straight - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Titans Go Quietly in Shutout Loss to Boulders - Ottawa Titans
- Boomers Slow Down Gateway - Schaumburg Boomers
- Grizzlies Drop Middle Contest in Schaumburg - Gateway Grizzlies
- Monsters Flip Script on Bird Dawgs to Even Series - Mississippi Mud Monsters
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