Otters Seek to End First Half of Season in Style
Published on July 12, 2015 under Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release
Evansville, IN- Thanks to two straight victories to start the series against the Lake Erie Crushers (19-28), the Evansville Otters (32-18) have now won two straight series in a row and all three series this season against the Crushers. The Otters will take the field at 5:05 tonight as they eye their second sweep of July after sweeping the Windy City Thunderbolts from the first to the third of the month.
The Otters took the first game of the series against eh Crushers 8-2 on Friday night and stormed back after being down early 3-0 last night before prevailing 7-5. A five run bottom of the second inning propelled the Otters to victory as they rallied for all five runs with two outs, the big hits coming off of the bats of Cory Uquhart and Shayne Houck who each singled home a pair in the inning.
John Schultz skied his eighth home run of the season over the right field wall in the fourth inning to give the Otters a seemingly comfortable 6-3 lead. Tyler Vail, the starter for the Otters, settled down through the middle innings, but in the top of the seventh, after getting the first batter on a groundout, allowed back-to-back hits, the second a double to put runners at second and third.
Max Peterson, the pitching coach, called on the lefty Blake Monar, but Monar was ineffective, hitting both batters his faced to bring the score to 6-4. Then it was Connor Little's turn to quiet things down and while he walked his first batter since May 19th to make it a one run game, he came back to get a popout and a strikeout to end the hazardous frame with the Otters still in the lead 6-5. Little went back out in the eighth inning and exited the frame unharmed for his seventh hold in seven chances.
After picking up a strikeout and ceding a walk in the seventh inning, Little's strikeout to walk ratio on the summer is now 34 to two. The righty from San Diego, CA, gave up his first inherited runner on the season, but stopped two of the three from making their way across the plate and is now 9-for-10 in such situations. Chris Sweeney provide some breathing room by launching his eighth home run of the season and first since 6/28 at Lake Erie. The two-run lead was more than enough for the Otters's closer Edgar Lopez who stayed perfect on the season by firing seven pitches, all strikes and striking out two for his 15th save in his 15th opportunity.
The Otters go for the sweep tonight and will toss Efrain Nieves who has six wins and just two losses on the season after coming through with a gutty win his last time out on Friday, enduring a two hour and 21 minute rain delay to go five innings, allowing just two runs. The Crushers will respond with Brad Duffy who is 5-2 this summer and is sporting a 3.81 ERA.
The game between the two teams is not just the last game before the All-Star break, but is also the last game between the two teams on the season. The Otters have already won the season series by taking six of the first eight games, and look to sweep the Crushers in a three game set for the first time this summer.
First pitch at Bosse Field is scheduled for 5:05 pm CDT with the pregame show featuring Mike Radomski, Bill McKeon and Jake Donnelly expected to begin at 4:45 pm CDT. 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.
Frontier League Stories from July 12, 2015
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- Crushers swept by Otters - Lake Erie Crushers
- ThunderBolts End First Half with 2-1 Win over Traverse City - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Grizzlies Drop Rubber Game to Rascals Before All-Star Break - Gateway Grizzlies
- Otters Claim First Place with Sweep of Lake Erie - Evansville Otters
- CornBelters Enter All-Star Break with Doubleheader Split - Normal CornBelters
- Aviators, Wild Things Split Doubleheader - Rockford Aviators
- Freedom Bring the Boom to Sweep Schaumburg - Florence Y'alls
- Wild Things, Aviators Split Twinbill in Rockford - Washington Wild Things
- Florence Sweeps Boomers - Schaumburg Boomers
- July 12 Florence Freedom Game Notes - Florence Y'alls
- Otters Seek to End First Half of Season in Style - Evansville Otters
- Rascals Lose to Even Series with Grizzlies - River City Rascals
- Freedom Pull off Big Comeback to Beat Boomers - Florence Y'alls
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