In what proved to be a low-scoring series, the Evansville Otters fell to the Joliet Slammers 3-2 Thursday as the Slammers claimed the rubber match with a 12th inning walk-off hit.
The Otters jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second.
After Dakota Phillips led off with a double, Carlos Castro jacked a two-run home run over the wall in left-centerfield for his fifth home run of the season.
The Slammers would score their first run on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the fifth from Jared Morello, who scored Ridge Hoopii-Haslem.
Brian Parreira hit an RBI single on a bad hop over the head of Otters second baseman Anthony Maselli, which allowed Riley Krane to cross the plate to tie the game at two in the sixth.
Tyler Beardsley would finish with seven innings pitched, surrendering those two runs – one earned – with five strikeouts.
The Otters had a chance to take the lead in the top of the eighth when Maselli and J.J. Gould hit back-to-back singles with two outs.
That would chase Slammers starter Daren Osby out of the game, who went 7.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits.
With Hunter Cullen at the plate, Mario Samuel was able to strike out the Otters’ centerfielder to end the threat.
Abraham Almonte pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth, while the Otters offense could not muster any more hits.
Danny Hrbek threw a scoreless inning in the bottom of the 10th and saved the game from ending in the 11th.
When a wild pitch from Hrbek went behind Phillips, the catcher tossed the ball to Hrbek in time to tag out Chaz Meadows at home, hurting his knee in the process. Hrbek struck out Krane to end the 11th.
Then in the bottom of the 12th, Peyton Isaacson hit an RBI single, scoring LJ Kalawaia to give the Slammers a 3-2 win.
Kalawaia was a pinch runner for Krane, who represented the international tie-breaker runner and started the inning on second base with no outs.
