ThunderBolts beat Evansville in sudden death
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CRESTWOOD, IL – Carter Delaney threw a 1-2-3 inning to wrap up a sudden death 2-2 victory for the ThunderBolts over the Evansville Otters at Ozinga Field Friday night.
The game was dominated by pitching with the Bolts’ Dante Maietta and Evansville’s JD Encarnacion matching each other zero for zero over the first five innings.
Windy City (10-10) finally broke through in the sixth. With one out, Carlos Pena whacked a double to right. He moved to third on a Jared Beebe single and scored on a Daryl Ruiz base hit.
The Otters instantly tied the score. Maietta struck out the first two batters of the seventh before walking the next two and departing with 6.2 innings under his belt. Against the bullpen, TJ Salvaggio singled home the tying run.
It remained 1-1 into extra innings, where Evansville scored their tiebreaker runner on another Salvaggio RBI single. They threatened for more but James Dunlap caught a line drive and made a diving touch of second base to secure the Bolts’ fifth double play of the night.
In the bottom of the tenth, Dunlap reached on a fielder’s choice and stood at third with two outs, when Josue Urdaneta, down to his last strike, lined a single to right to tie the score.
The ThunderBolts chose to play the field in the sudden death inning and Delaney’s perfect frame clinched the win.
Delaney improved to 3-0. He went three innings of relief allowing just an unearned run.
The ThunderBolts go for a two-game series sweep on Saturday night. Blake Nettleton makes his pro debut on the mound for the Bolts and Evansville counters with Garret Simpson (1-0, 7.53). The first 1,000 fans at Ozinga Field receive a ThunderBolts Hawaiian shirt courtesy of Old National Bank. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 and broadcast details can be found at wcthunderbolts.com.
