Otters Drop Tough One to Miners, Fall 3-2 in 11 Innings
August 9, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release
Evansville, IN- For the second time in the last three nights, the Evansville Otters (46-26) and the Southern Illinois Miners (47-25) breached the eleventh inning, forcing the International Tie-Breaker Rule upon the Bosse Field Faithful. However, unlike Friday night, when the Otters came away with the win, the Miners squeaked out a 3-2 win in eleven innings, and gained sole possession of first place.
Trevor Walch started for the Otters and kept the Miners off the board through the first three frames and in the bottom of the third inning the Otters scored a run when John Schultz struck out with a runner at third base, but the ball squibbed by the catcher Toby DeMello, allowing Alex Cruz to score from third.
The Miners would eventually tie the game in the seventh inning after Walch walked the leadoff batter and allowed a double to the next batter to put men at second and third with one out. Steve Marino, the former Otter, hit a groundball to short to tie it at 1-1.
Connor Little came on in the eighth inning and gave the Otters a chance to win by shutting out the Miners in the eighth and ninth, but the Otters could not take advantage of a leadoff single by Schultz in the ninth. The game proceeded to extras and stayed tied at ones until the eleventh when the Miners used the new tie-breaker rule to score a run. The go-ahead run came on another Miner's bloop single after it appeared that Edgar Lopez had struck out Michael Early on a fastball down the heart of the plate, but the pitch was called a ball, and Earley blooped in a run two pitches later. Marino plated the second run of the frame two batters later with another single to center, giving the Miners an insurance run, one they would need.
The Otters scored quickly in the bottom of the eleventh when Josh Allen singled after a Cory Urquhart strikeout, but Schultz struck out after receiving bad news on a 3-1 offering that appeared out of the zone and Chris Sweeney grounded to short to end the game.
Alex Cruz went 2-for-4 on the night with two runs scored while Josh Allen has now reached base in seven straight games and has driven in four in that time.
The Otters go on the road to take on the Rockford Aviators for the first time this season. The Otters will toss their righty, Brett Marshall, who is coming off of his first loss on the season and is now 1-1 with a 3.85 ERA. The Aviators are going to go with Kyle Brueggemann who was on the All-Star squad for the West this season and currently sports a 6-3 record and a 3.22 ERA.
The Otters will play all three games against the Aviators at 6:35 pm CDT with the pregame show featuring Jake Donnelly on 91.5 WUEV starting at 6:15 pm CDT. After the three game set concludes the Otters will head back to Bosse Field to take on the Schaumburg Boomers for three games to while wrapping up the weekend. Fans can listen to all three games in the Evansville area on 91.5 WUEV or online at EvansvilleOtters.com. Fans can purchase tickets by calling the team's front office at 812.435.8686 or online at EvansvilleOtters.com. 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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Frontier League Stories from August 9, 2015
- Otters Drop Tough One to Miners, Fall 3-2 in 11 Innings - Evansville Otters
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- ThunderBolts Get Swept with 8-2 Loss at River City - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Aviators Fall in Series Finale, 8-5 - Rockford Aviators
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- Joliet Salvages Series Finale against Freedom - Florence Y'alls
- Wild Things Drop Series Finale to Schaumburg 3-2 - Washington Wild Things
- Boomers Rally to Beat Wild Things - Schaumburg Boomers
- August 9 Florence Freedom Game Notes - Florence Y'alls
- Normal CornBelters Game Tonight - Normal CornBelters
- Otters and Miners Battle for First Place in the East - Evansville Otters
- Grizzlies Bounce Back from Early Deficits in Win over Beach Bums - Gateway Grizzlies
- Freedom Stun Slammers with Late Comeback Victory - Florence Y'alls
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