The Evansville Otters dropped a tight ballgame 4-3 to the River City Rascals as River City picked up the wire-to-wire victory on Friday night at CarShield Field.
River City plated two runs in the first inning to take an early lead. Paul Kronenfeld hit an RBI single and Braxton Martinez followed that up with a two out RBI knock of his own.
Evansville got one back in the third on a sacrifice fly from J.J Gould.
River City restored their two-run lead with an RBI double from Martinez in the bottom of the third.
Mike Rizzitello doubled home a run in the top of the fifth to bring Evansville to within one run.
Jeff Gardner tied the game in the top of the sixth with a solo homer, his seventh of the season.
Paul Kronenfeld put River City back in front with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the sixth.
That home run proved to be the difference with River City clinching the 4-3 victory thanks to Cody Mincey striking out the side in the ninth for the save.
Ryan Orr gets the win for River City after working a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.
Austin Nicely gets hung with the loss, his fourth of the year. Nicely went 5.2 innings, allowing four runs on 11 hits while punching out four.
River City starter Jonny Ortiz did not factor into the decision. He tossed 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits and collected five strike outs.
