Schultz & Otters Ready for Boomers After Sweeping Bolts
July 3, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release
John Schultz of the Evansville Otters
(Evansville Otters)
Evansville, IN- Another quality start and some more timely hitting from the Evansville Otters (27-15) in front of 5.600 fans sealed the series sweep of the Windy City Thunderbolts with the Otters pulling away with a 5-2 victory.
Will Oliver went seven shutout innings, the third time in a row going seven innings without allowing an earned run, and John Schultz went 3-for-4 with an RBI and his franchise leading 14th triple to pace the club. Oliver needed to be on his game because he was pitching with just a 1-0 lead for most of the affair after a Nik Balog RBI single in the second put the Otters up front early.
It would not be until the fifth inning before the Otters extended the lead on Schultz' team leading 27th RBI of the season (he and Shayne Houck both have 27 runs driven in during the 2015 campaign). The Otters would take on one in the seventh and two in the eighth to take a commanding 5-0 lead, and although Tommy Dancszyk gave up a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning, Edgar Lopez came on and recorded the final two outs for his twelfth save in as many chances.
Oliver, who like Trevor Walch the previous night, is making a serious bid for the Frontier League All-Star Game, dropped his ERA to 1.69 and has now won in five of his last six starts, with the only other decision a loss where he went seven innings and allowed just one unearned run. Schultz is trying to play his way on the East Squad as well, bumping his average to .322 to go along with eleven doubles, two triples and seven home runs in addition to the 27 driven in.
The Otters eighth and ninth inning duo of Connor Little and Edgar Lopez continue to dominate; Little pitched a perfect eighth inning last night while picking up another strikeout, pushing his strikeout to walk ration on the season to 28 to one, solidifying the bridge to the Otters closer Lopez, who is still perfect on the season.
While the All-Star festivities will be in Schaumburg, IL, the Otters are getting an early glimpse of Schaumburg Baseball Stadium this weekend, playing a three game set against the west division foes. Game One will feature Tyler Vail (3-2, 4.46) for the Otters, who is coming off of his best performance of the season last time out when he traversed seven innings while allowing just two runs on five strikeouts and a pair of walks. He will look to continue a streak of six quality starts in a row produced by the Otters starting corps.
His opponent on the mound for Friday Night's 6:30 pm CDT start will be Eddie Cody, who is 5-1 on the year with a 2.33 ERA. His last outing was a loss, albeit, the righty went eight innings and allowed just two runs on ten hits in the outing while striking out five and walking a single batter in his only loss of the season. The pregame show with Jake Donnelly will start at 6:10 pm CDT. Game Two will be Saturday night at 6:00 pm CDT while the series finale will be a matinee on Sunday, starting at 1:00 pm CDT.
The three game series against the Boomers is the start of a six game road trip where the Otters will make their way to Florence, KY on Wednesday for a doubleheader against the Florence Freedom before finishing up that series on Thursday. They will then head back to Evansville to complete the first half of the 2015 season with a three game series against the Lake Erie Crushers at Bosse Field, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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.
Images from this story
 John Schultz of the Evansville Otters |
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