Wild Things sweep Otters
July 19, 2006 - Frontier League (FL)
Evansville Otters News Release
Evansville, IN-The Washington Wild Things (26-23) accomplished what no other team has done this year at Bosse Field; sweep the Evansville Otters (23-27). Fresh off of a three game sweep of the River City Rascals, Evansville came to town with a bit of a swagger to their step. With Washington aboard a bus and out of town, that swagger is now a pretty serious limp. The Wild Things won the finale of the series on Wednesday in ten inning by a 4-3 final. In the series, the Otters lost by a combined three runs meaning each game was decided by a single run, and each time Evansville came up short.
The Otters were the team that had all the early chances, with a runner at third base in each of their first three frames. The team was unsuccessful however in each of the three innings, each time leaving the runner stranded.
The fourth inning would be the only frame either team would score in until the eighth. The Wild Things made the most of their only inning with a hit off Otter starter Landon Brazell, getting a lead off double from Brandon Ketron to get the inning rolling. Pat Peavey was then granted first on a ball up and in that was ruled to have hit him. Mike Arbinger then cashed in on a RBI hit to center, scoring Ketron to make it 1-0 Washington. On the play, the Otters did not cut the throw home, allowing both runners to move up on the play. Andy Hudak's ground out to second upped the advantage to 2-0, and Chris Carter took the suspense out of the frame with a double down the right field line for the third run of the inning.
Evansville got on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the inning on the first professional home run of the career of Adam Heffron, who would finish with the best night of all, going 4-5.
The game would stay at 3-1 until the eighth, when Washington starter Patrick Stanley left after allowing just one run on four hits. The Otters capitalized on the pen, getting an RBI double off the bat of Heffron with two outs. The Wild Things caught a break on the play however, as for the second straight night, Evansville hit a late inning double down the right field line that bounced out of play for a ground rule double. For the second straight night, Evansville had to send one of their base runners back. Also for the second straight night, that base runner would remain stranded at third.
Down to their last out in the ninth against Stephen Spragg (3-4), Evansville rallied with a pinch hit double off the bat of Grant Rembert. Rembert then came into score on the game tying hit by Frank Scott as Rembert scored on the play at the plate, a play where the ball skipped off the glove of catcher Brandon Ketron, resulting in an error charged to the backstop.
The Otters had to make some serious adjustments to their lineup in the tenth, as they had taken some pretty drastic measures to tie the game up one half inning earlier. Pinch hitter Jeff Goldbach stayed in the game to catch and Matt Edwards moved from the team's DH to third base, making the Otters give up their designated hitter. Had the game come to that part of the Evansville lineup, the Otters would have been forced to have a pitcher hit.
Ketron led off the tenth inning with a single off reliever Ryan Burnau (2-2) and advanced to second on a sacrifice. After a hit batter, Burnau got Andy Hudak to fly to center for a huge second out of the inning. On a 1-2 pitch however, Chris Cater scooped a breaking ball away and flipped it into right field for what would prove to be the game winning hit.
Evansville did indeed make some noise in the bottom half of the frame, ending up with runners at first and third and two outs, but reliever Patrick Sadler, who notched his first save of the season, struck out Dale Mueller looking to end the Otter threat and complete the sweep.
Next up for the Otters is River City, who come to town for the first time this year. Evansville is 4-2 this year against the Rascals, sweeping the team just days ago. Evansville starts left-hander Cody Blackard, who picked up his first win of the season at T.R. Hughes ballpark in his last start. He is set to square off in a rematch against right hander Mike Renery, who is winless this season.
It will be a night of fun and fireworks as it will be a night to "Salute the Negro Leagues", brought to you by Millennium Steel. The game will feature post game firewors, highlighting a night of baseball on Thirsty Thursday.
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Frontier League Stories from July 19, 2006
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