It’s the second consecutive sweep at Bosse Field for the Otters after sweeping Joliet in a three-game series earlier this month. It’s the third sweep for Evansville this season.
Welch earned the victory, pitching 6 2/3 innings while allowing two runs–one earned–on five hits. He struck out nine batters and only walked two in facing 28 batters.
Chris Washington took the loss for Windy City, surrendering three earned runs on seven hits. He struck out two but also walked three batters.
Ryan Long’s RBI ground out scored David Cronin to give Evansville a 1-0 advantage in the first inning.
Windy City tied the game in the second on an error by Cronin at second, which allowed Brett Coffel to reach and Taisei Fukuhara to score.
The Otters answered in the bottom half of the frame. Tanner Wetrich hit an RBI double that scored Jack Meggs and Cronin’s RBI single scored Wetrich to give Evansville a 3-1 advantage.
After the Thunderbolts cut the Evansville lead to 3-2 in the third, the Otters put the game away with a five-run seventh–highlighted by Castro’s three-run home run to left field, which made it a 7-3 score.
Evansville added three runs in the eighth after Windy City hit back-to-back home runs in the top half of the inning.
Cronin was 3 for 5 with two runs scored and an RBI while Long was 2 for 4 with two runs and an RBI. Castro finished 1 for 5 with a run and three RBIs.
Evansville improved to 38-27, its highest mark over .500 this season. Windy City fell to 28-38 with the loss.
