Pierce, Salvaggio Lead Otters to First Road Series Win
Published on June 11, 2026 under Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Evansville Otters (18-11) take the rubber match and win their first series on the road as they beat the Lake Erie Crushers (13-14) on Thursday night, 9-5.
With original starter Nathan Shinn getting his contract purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night, it was Dylan Delvecchio making the spot start for Lake Erie against J.D. Encarnacion for the Otters, who was playing in his 100th professional game on Thursday.
Delvecchio wouldn't make it out of the first inning. He walked both Jon Ponder and Amani Jones to start the game, then gave up a towering home run to Dennis Pierce that went 443 feet. He was taken out two batters later.
Bob Helt would take the mound in long relief for the Crushers, but gave up two more runs in the second inning on a T.J. Salvaggio home run.
It was 5-1 Evansville heading into the bottom of the fourth when the Crushers started fighting back. A pair of RBI base hits and a solo home run brought the game level in the fourth.
Evansville responded well, scoring two runs in the sixth on an error and another extra-base hit by Salvaggio.
The Otters' bullpen was dominant yet again. Joe Morrissey threw a 1-2-3 seventh inning, then Alex Valdez threw a scoreless eighth.
LG Castillo would bring in two more insurance runs in the ninth with a single that scored Pierce and Sam Linscott. Junior Cerda struck out two in the bottom half and got Sebastian Alexander to ground out to shortstop to end it, the same way the last out was made on Tuesday.
The Otters are back home after the long road trip to face the Schaumburg Boomers starting tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. CT at EVSC's Historic Bosse Field.
All games can be heard on 96.9 WYIR and the Otters Digital Network and can be viewed live on the Frontier League Network on HTN.
The Evansville Otters are the 2006 and 2016 Frontier League champions.
The Otters play all home games at EVSC's 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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