Otters 5 Bolts 2
EVANSVILLE, IN – The Evansville Otters completed a three-game sweep at Bosse Field with a 5-2 win over the ThunderBolts Thursday night.
The Otters (27-15) took an early lead when Chris Sweeney and Nik Balog came up with back-to-back hits in the second. Sweeney doubled and Balog singled him in.
The lead became two on an unearned run off of Windy City starter Danny Jimenez in the fifth. Dean Wilson reached on a two-base error and with two outs, John Schultz singled him home.
The Otters distanced themselves with three late runs. In the seventh, Balog was hit by a pitch and later came in to score on a passed ball. They added two more in the eighth. After loading the bases on two singles and a hit batter, Sweeney hit into a double play, scoring a run. Houck would later score on a wild pitch to make it 5-0.
The ThunderBolts (15-25) fought back with a couple of runs in the ninth. Jacob Tanis singled and Marquis Riley doubled before Max White’s groundout broke up the shutout. Ransom LaLonde singled in front of Ryan Deitrich, who hit an infield single, bringing home Riley and cutting the deficit to 5-2. Coco Johnson walked with two outs to load the bases, but Edgar Lopez got Mike Torres to groundout, ending the game.
Windy City outhit Evansville 9-8 in the game, but they stranded seven men in scoring position.
Will Oliver (5-2) threw seven shutout innings for the win and Danny Jimenez (2-3) allowed just one earned run in 6.1 innings but took the loss. Lopez earned his 12th save.
The ThunderBolts continue their road trip on Friday as they begin a three-game series with the Lake Erie Crushers. Travis Tingle (2-4, 2.80) will take the mound in game one of the series against Lake Erie’s Brad Zambron (1-3, 4.54). First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 and the radio broadcast can be heard on WXAV 88.3 FM and wxav.com.
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