Otters Lose in Walk-Off Fashion to ThunderBolts
August 5, 2021 - Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release
CRESTWOOD, Ill. - Despite a brilliant outing from Evansville Otters starting pitcher Polo Portela Thursday, the Windy City ThunderBolts and Dan Robinson managed to stun the Otters with walk-off heroics in a 2-1 rubber match at Ozinga Field.
After Otters starter Polo Portela and Tyler Thornton opened the game with a pitchers duel by blanking and limiting their opposition to one hit apiece through four inning, the Otters managed to load the bases in the top of the fifth and scratch across a run when Michael Gangwish hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored Elijah MacNamee. After four and a half, the Otters led 1-0.
Polo Portela would keep the ThunderBolts scoreless through 7.2 innings, until Payton Robertson tripled home John Sechen from second to tie the game at one in the bottom of the eighth.
Taylor Wright would then come out of Evansville's bullpen but would not need to face Brynn Martinez, as Payton Robertson was thrown out trying to steal home, keeping the ballgame tied heading into the ninth.
After a scoreless top half of the inning, Wright would get the first two outs of the bottom half and was one strike away from sending the Otters to extra innings. That was until Dan Robinson, on a 1-2 pitch, hit a walk-off home run to right in stunning fashion for the ThunderBolts.
Taylor Wright took the loss while Kyle Johnson earned the win in the 2-1 final.
The Otters will look to get back to their winning ways Friday, as they travel to Avon, Ohio to battle the Lake Erie Crushers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. CT, and fans can listen to an audio broadcast of the game on the Otters' YouTube channel with a 5:50 p.m. pregame show.
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.
For more information, visit evansvilleotters.com or call (812) 435-8686.
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Frontier League Stories from August 5, 2021
- Grizzlies' Lead Slips Away in 10-5 Loss - Gateway Grizzlies
- Crushers Prevail in Finale - Lake Erie Crushers
- ThunderBolts Beat Evansville on Robinson's Home Run - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Otters Lose in Walk-Off Fashion to ThunderBolts - Evansville Otters
- Slammers Come up Short in Game Three Loss - Joliet Slammers
- Ramiz, Sundberg Pace Boulders To Win At New Jersey - New York Boulders
- Wild Things Return to 4.5 Games Back of Northeast's Top Spot with Win - Washington Wild Things
- Craport Clutch in Win over Schaumburg to Clinch Series - Florence Y'alls
- ValleyCats Fall in Midweek Series Finale at Equipe Quebec - Tri-City ValleyCats
- Late Grand Slam Drops Boomers - Schaumburg Boomers
- Scott Strikes out a Dozen in Otters' Win - Evansville Otters
- Joliet strikes for 14 runs on 16 hits; Crushers stay put at 5.0 games back - Lake Erie Crushers
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