CRESTWOOD, IL – The ThunderBolts allowed season highs of 15 runs and 25 hits Tuesday afternoon as the Evansville Otters cruised to a 15-5 win at Standard Bank Stadium.
Evansville broke out to a big lead before giving the Bolts an at bat, scoring five runs in the first inning. The first three men reached before a Nik Balog sacrifice fly got the scoring started. Chris Sweeney followed with a three-run homer and Kolin Conner picked up an RBI single later in the inning to make it 5-0.
The Bolts got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Evan Button walked, stole second, moved to third on a Mike Torres bunt single and scored on Kyle Robinson’s sacrifice fly.
The Otters made their lead 9-1 with four runs in the fourth. Balog hit a two-run home run in the inning. They also got a run on an error and one on a bases loaded walk.
Windy City showed some offensive life in the middle innings, with Ryan Soares hitting his third home run of the year in the fourth. They followed with two runs in the sixth without a hit. Garrett Carey was hit by a pitch and later scored on a passed ball. Button, Torres and Robinson walked consecutively before a Ryan McIntyre sacrifice fly made it 9-4.
That was as close as the Bolts got; the Otters got an RBI single from Phillip Wilson in the sixth and a run-scoring error in the seventh. They put it away with four runs in the eighth, the highlight of the inning coming on Sweeney’s second three-run blast of the day.
The ThunderBolts got their final run on McIntyre’s second sacrifice fly of the day.
Taylor Dennis (1-1) pitched five innings for the win and Tad Barton (0-2) lasted just one inning for the loss.
The Bolts will aim to avoid the sweep on Wednesday morning in the third Big Splash Day of the season. Daniel Cropper (3-6, 5.37) will make the start for Windy City against Evansville’s Blake Monar (1-2, 5.19). First pitch is scheduled for 10:35 and fans not in attendance can hear the radio broadcast on WXAV 88.3 FM and wxav.com.
Box Score
