Josh Allen and the Otters Blast Their Way to an 11-9 Victory
August 23, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release
O'Fallon, MO- The champagne was popping and the ball was flying at T.R. Hughes Ballpark as the Evansville Otters (53-31) defeated the River City Rascals (47-37) in a wild one on Sunday evening, 11-9.
Just like the previous night, things started off well for the Otters as Rolando Gomez singled to right to start the ballgame. After a flyout by John Schultz, Dane Phillips collected a base knock of his own to right to put men at first and second with one out. Chris Sweeney struck out in the next at bat, but Nik Balog singled home the first run of the game and Chris Elder knocked in his first run of the season with his own single to give the Otters a 2-0 lead after one.
The Rascals would tie the game with a solo home run in the second inning and plate a run on an error in the third. The Otters jumped right back on top though in the fourth inning, getting two on a single by Rolando Gomez and another on a sac fly by Phillips. The Rascals cut into the lead once more with an RBI double in the fifth inning, but Schultz pushed the lead back up to three with an RBI single in the top of the sixth.
Trevor Walch was the starter for the Otters on the night and after retiring the first batter in the bottom of the sixth inning, he immediately ran into trouble, allowing six consecutive hits: the Rascals went home run, single, single, single, grand slam, home run to chase Walch from the game. The six batters quickly erased the Otters 6-3 lead and turned it into a 9-6 advantage.
However, the Otters, who had scored seven runs off of the Rascals bullpen in the first two games combined, continued that streak and took back the lead in the seventh. Sweeney began the inning with a hustle double before Balog drove in his sixth run of the series with a single right back up the middle to cut the lead to 9-7. Elder followed with a single of his own to put men on first and second with nobody out, which is when Steve Brook, the manager of the Rascals, called on Zac Treece to get out of the inning.
Treece had pitched in each of the first two games of the series against the Otters and retired all five of the batters he faced, including saving the game on Friday for the Rascals with the possible go-ahead run at the plate. Josh Allen came to the plate as the potential go-ahead run and was asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but Treece missed with the first three pitches and ended up running the count full. That is when he tried to sneak a slider by Allen, but he hung it and Allen blasted it well over the wall in right for a three-run home run, putting the Otters into the lead 10-9.
Connor Little was still out on the mound after getting the final two outs in the sixth inning and needed just eight pitches to get out of the seventh, firing all strikes. The Otters could not score in the eighth, but Little continued to dominate, needing just eight pitches yet again to retire the side in order in the eighth.
Josh Allen led off the top of the ninth with a walk and was pushed over to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Alex Cruz, who had replaced Dean Wilson after the run-scoring error in the third. With Cory Urquhart at the plate and the lone out, Allen attempted to steal third base and the throw from the catcher sailed into left field, Allen got up and scampered home for the insurance run and the 11-9 Otters cushion.
Edgar Lopez took the ball from Connor Little in the ninth inning and retired the first two batters. He ran into trouble, allowing a single and a walk to the next two batters, but finished off the game by striking out the next batter, sealing his 22 save on the season, tying him with Eric Massingham for most in a single season in Otters history.
Connor Little picked up the win and moved to 5-5 on the year for his perfect outing while he and Lopez pushed the Otters record to 52-0 on the season when leading at any point in the final two innings. The Otters are back in action on Wednesday against the Frontier Greys when the two teams will play two with game one starting at 5:35 pm CDT. The pregame show with Mike Radomski, Jake Donnelly and Bill McKeon will begin at 5:15 pm CDT. 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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