The Evansville Otters finished the regular season with a 13-inning loss to the Normal CornBelters, 8-7, on Sunday night at the Corn Crib.
With the River City Rascals winning earlier in the day, the Otters fate as the second wild card team was sealed, since River City held the head-to-head tiebreaker over Evansville.
Normal struck in the first inning when Derrick Loveless singled home Santiago Chirino.
The CornBelters added a second run on a Cody Erickson RBI single in the bottom of the second.
Andrew Godbold doubled home Loveless to give Normal a 3-0 edge in the third inning.
Evansville got on the board on Hunter Cullen’s bunt base hit that scored Jeff Gardner from third base in the top of the fourth.
The Otters tied the game thanks to RBI groundouts from Ryan Long and Travis Harrison in the top of the fifth.
Normal retook the lead on a Justin Fletcher RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.
David Cronin and Long each drew bases loaded walks to give Evansville a 5-4 lead in the top of the sixth.
Godbold plated two runs on a single for Normal in the bottom of the sixth to put the CornBelters ahead 6-5.
Taylor Lane tied the game at 6-6 with an RBI single in the top of the seventh.
The game stayed tied until the twelfth, where Lane came through with another RBI single to give Evansville a 7-6 edge.
Normal rallied to tie the game on a Michael Baca RBI knock in the bottom half of the twelfth.
Chris Iriart ended the five-hour contest when he singled home a run in the bottom of the thirteenth to give Normal the 8-7 win.
Sean Hurley picks up the win for Normal after throwing a scoreless thirteenth.
Taylor Hillson take the loss for Evansville, his first on the year. Hillson worked 3.1 innings, allowing two runs, both unearned, on two hits, three walks, and one strikeout.
After an off-day on Monday, the Otters will begin the postseason at home against the Washington Wild Things at 6:35 p.m. at Bosse Field on Tuesday.
