Booker's Five RBI Day Powers Mud Monsters Past Otters

Published on June 3, 2026 under Frontier League (FL)
Mississippi Mud Monsters News Release

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Mississippi Mud Monsters (10-13) bounced back in game two of their series against the Evansville Otters (14-8) as Kyle Booker drove in five runs and Tevis Payne II launched his first professional home run in an 8-4 victory.

Jackson Smith toed the rubber, making his third start for Mississippi, and Kyle Booker gave him a 2-0 lead to work with after launching a two-run shot to score himself and Kasten Furr.

The score held through two innings before Smith ran into trouble the second time through the Otters order in the third.

Number nine hitter Cohen Wilbanks singled after dropping a bunt back to Smith, and the right-hander's throw to first sailed into the Evansville dugout, allowing Wilbanks to advance to second.

A wild pitch moved the runner to third before Jon Ponder walked to put runners on the corners. TJ Salvaggio then reached on an error to bring home Wilbanks and put the Otters on the board 2-1.

Ponder moved to third on the play, and Logan Brown bunted a ball back to Smith, who flipped it to Payne II to record the out at home.

Dennis Pierce followed with an RBI double to score Salvaggio as the tying run, and Blake Robertson's groundout brought home Brown to give Evansville a 3-2 lead.

Mississippi refused to take its foot off the gas pedal in the top of the fourth, formulating a four-run answer to take back the lead.

Three consecutive singles with one out by Peter Bocchino, AJ Fritz and Brayland Skinner loaded the bases for Kyle Booker.

Booker then took a 2-0 offering from Evansville starter Ryan Wiltse and hammered it off the wall in center field for a bases-clearing double, collecting RBIs No. 3, 4 and 5 on the day and pushing Mississippi's lead to 5-3.

Travis Holt followed with an RBI single up the middle to bring home Booker and make it 6-3 before the inning came to a close.

Mississippi picked up run number seven in the top of the fifth after Payne II lined a triple down the left field line and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Jackson Nicklaus, making it 7-3.

Aside from the three-run third inning, Smith kept the Otters in check for the remainder of his outing. The Raymond, Mississippi native finished five innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits while walking two and striking out five. The outing established new season highs in both innings pitched and strikeouts.

Tristan House took over for Smith and tossed a scoreless sixth inning before recording the first two outs of the seventh. Jon Ponder then connected on a solo home run to cut the Mississippi lead to 7-4.

Connor Langrell relieved House in the eighth and bounced back from his outing in game one by tossing a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.

In the ninth, Payne II put an exclamation point on the day, launching the first professional home run of his career for insurance to extend Mississippi's lead to 8-4.

Despite it not being a save opportunity, Chris Barraza took the ball in the ninth and after issuing a leadoff walk, struck out the side to seal Mississippi's tenth win of the season.

The Mud Monsters close out their three-game series against the Otters tomorrow evening before heading to Sauget, Illinois for three games against the Gateway Grizzlies. First pitch is scheduled for 6:25 p.m. CT. Right-hander Brian Williams (0-3, 7.09) gets the start for Mississippi while Evansville counters with fellow right-hander Ben Petschke (1-0, 3.04).

Kyle Booker of the Mississippi Mud Monsters

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