The Evansville Otters took the opening game of the series behind powerful pitching and dominant offense 9-3 over the Southern Illinois Miners.
Evansville (49-39) put up 16 hits in the effort including three hits each from Ryan Long and Chris Riopedre.
Southern Illinois (35-53) struggled on the mound walking eight Otters batters and striking out only seven.
Evansville jumped out to an early lead to open up the game in the first inning.
Jeff Gardner hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Ryan Long. Brandon Soat drew a bases loaded walk later in the inning to bring in Josh Allen to make it 2-0.
In the bottom of the frame, Southern Illinois added their own run on a sacrifice fly from Ryan Lashley to cut the lead to 2-1.
The scoring fell silent until the fifth inning when the Otters came alive again.
Riopedre hit a two-RBI single to score John Schultz and Soat. Josh Allen then plated Zach Welz on a fielder’s choice to make it 4-1.
In the sixth inning, Welz hit an RBI single to score Jeff Gardner. In the seventh inning, Long hit an RBI single to score Riopedre making it 7-1.
The Miners drew closer in the bottom of the eighth inning on a two-run home run from Nolan Earley making it 7-3.
The Otters got the runs back in the ninth on a two-RBI double from Dane Phillips, his 30th of the season to make it 9-3.
Felix Baez impressed in his start. He walked just two and gave up only four hits in seven innings. Baez only surrendered one run and also struck out five.
Matt Parish recorded the loss for the Miners.
Riopedre also added on three steals in the contest. Riopedre now has 19 stolen bases for the season to lead the team.
The series resumes tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. at Rent One Park.
Fans can listen on 91.5 WUEV with Lucas Corley (play-by-play) and Zane Clodfelter (color commentary) on the call.
Tickets for August home games are still available by going to evansvilleotters.com or calling 812-435-8686.
