Evansville Otters Preview
Published on May 22, 2015 under Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - After losing a series at home to the Traverse City Beach Bums, the Evansville Otters went on the road for a three game set against the Washington Wild Things and righted the ship, sweeping the Wild Things and improving their record to 4-2.
It looked like the Otters were only going to leave Washington, PA with a pair of wins as they found themselves down 3-1 entering the top of the ninth inning in last night's game, but Ronnie Richardson, with two outs and two men on, tripled down the right field line to tie the game at threes. John Schultz came up to the plate next and the left-handed batter, who had homered the night before to right field, blasted one out to left to put the Otters up 5-3.
That score was enough to secure the win for the Otters because Edgar Lopez sealed his third save in as many chances in the bottom of the ninth. The Otters received great pitching from their starter Will Oliver who went seven innings and struck out a season high eleven batters, but he did allow three runs and was on the hook for the loss until the ninth inning heroics. The bullpen duo of Evan Mott and Blake Monar combined for a scoreless eighth with Monar picking up his second win of the series by retiring and striking out the only batter he faced.
The Otters now come back home to host the Florence Freedom for three games at Bosse Field. Preston Olson, who last pitched in Game Two of the Otters doubleheader against the Beach Bums last Saturday, is slated to start the first game of the series versus the Freedom.
In his 2015 debut, Olson picked up the win with an impressive outing. The tall righty from Salt Lake City, Utah went six innings of one run baseball, ceding just four hits while striking out a pair and not walking a single batter.
His counterpart on the mound for tonight's matchup is right-handed pitcher Jake Stephens. Stephens is in his third year in the Frontier League, but first with the Florence Freedom and is making his first appearance of the season. In his previous two seasons, he pitched for the Gateway Grizzlies and compiled a 5-4 record in 16 appearances (ten of those starts) and a 4.32 ERA. However, he made just one start last season for the Grizzlies so 2015 is a return to the starting rotation for the 24 year old out of the University of West Florida.
Tonight's game is scheduled to start at 6:35 CDT and will be on WUEV 91.5 FM as well as on EvansvilleOtters.com. If using the website to listen, just click on "listen live" to hear the call.
Reserved Box Seat tickets are $9 and general admission is just $6.
Fans can purchase tickets by calling the team's front office at 812.435.8686.
Frontier League Stories from May 22, 2015
- Aviators Top Miners 2-0 to Win 7th Straight - Rockford Aviators
- Slammers Stage Late Rally to Beat Grizzlies - Gateway Grizzlies
- Miners Shut Out by Rockford - Southern Illinois Miners
- Crushers steal one in Schaumburg - Lake Erie Crushers
- Big Seventh Leads to Slammers Win - Joliet Slammers
- Beach Bums Win Home Opener 7-5 - Traverse City Beach Bums
- Boomers Open Home Slate with Defeat - Schaumburg Boomers
- Otters Power Past the Freedom - Florence Y'alls
- CornBelters Offense, Pitching Dominate Wild Things - Normal CornBelters
- Wertz Totals Five RBIs as Otters Win Fourth Straight - Evansville Otters
- ThunderBolts Fall to Traverse City 7-5 in Road Opener - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Florence Freedom Game Notes - Florence Y'alls
- Evansville Otters Preview - Evansville Otters
- Normal CornBelters Game Tonight - Normal CornBelters
- Offense Comes Alive To Take Series - Gateway Grizzlies
- Crushers drop one to the Slammers - Lake Erie Crushers
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