Evansville lost early leads in both billings of a doubleheader Sunday to suffer a series sweep at the hands of the Schaumburg Boomers at Bosse Field.
The Otters dropped game one by a 7-5 score, though they had been set to a large early lead. The Otters scored five runs in the bottom of the second, thanks to a 3-2, two-out RBI single from Miles Gordon and back-to-back home runs from Andy DeJesus (for three runs) and J.R. Davis.
The Boomers shot right back in the top of the third for five of their own off Otters starter Braden Scott. Alberto Schmidt opened the Schaumburg scoring with a two-run homer to left that was followed in the inning by a Quincy Nieporte sacrifice fly and Angelo Gumbs’ two-run double.
Quincy Nieporte crushed the Otters on the day, driving in two more runs for the Boomers in game one. Nieporte added his second RBI of the day in the top of fifth with a run-scoring single off Otters reliever Tyler Spring, who had just come in to relieve Braden Scott with no one out and two aboard.
Nieporte would cap off game one’s scoring with his first home run of the day in the top of the seventh, pushing the Boomers lead to 7-5, where the score would hold for the final.
Isaiah Rivera would earn the win, while Darrell Thompson picked up his fourth save of the season. Braden Scott took the loss.
Game two also began the way of the Boomers, when Nieporte smashed a two-run home run to left field that gave the Boomers a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
Evansville answered right back in their opening at-bats, scoring four runs in the inning. J.R. Davis opened the Otters’ scoring with an RBI-single, followed by an RBI fielder’s choice from Riley Krane.
Elijah MacNamee followed Krane’s at-bat with an opposite field home run to right, giving the Otters a 4-2.
The score would hold until the top of the fifth, when Quincy Neiporte hit his third home run of the day — and second of the game — against Austin Gossmann, tying the game at four.
Taylor Wright would get the final two outs of the inning after coming on to relieve Gossmann with two aboard, keeping the game tied.
Evansville took the lead right back in the bottom of the fifth, when Bryce Denton, who doubled to lead off the inning, scored from third on a two-out, 0-2 RBI single from J.R. Davis. Evansville then led 5-4.
Schaumburg would stun the Otters in the top of the seventh inning however, as closer Logan Sawyer came on in the hopes of earning his tenth save of the season. Proving to be Evansville’s achilles heel, Quincy Nieporte would reach on a leadoff walk and score on a throwing error by the pitcher. Three more runs would come in to score during the innings, on an RBI single, groundout, and sac fly.
Evansville managed to score one run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI double by Andy DeJesus and bring the tying run to the plate, but Jake Joyce succeeded in earning his third save of the season.
Thomas Nicoll earned the win, while Logan Sawyer took the loss.
Evansville will open a three-game road trip and series with the Florence Y’alls on Tuesday, July 13. Fans can follow along with an audio broadcast on the Evansville Otters YouTube channel, with first pitch scheduled for 5:32 p.m. CT.
