– Former Indiana University Hoosier Braden Scott shoved his opposition to send the Evansville Otters to a 3-1 victory over the Gateway Grizzlies Saturday night.
Saturday’s win evened the weekend series at GCS Credit Union Ballpark at one game apiece.
For the second consecutive night, the Otters would take a 1-0 lead in the top of the second at GCS Credit Union Ballpark. After Elijah MacNamee and Dakota Phillips led off the inning with back-to-back singles, Michael Gangwish would walk with one out to load the bases. Andrew Penner then drew a base on balls to drive home a run with a raft full of Otters on the basepaths.
Evansville would extend their lead in the top of the fourth, when Penner doubled home Andretty Cordero with a liner to left that reached the wall with two outs. After three and a half, the Otters led 2-0.
With Braden Scott dealing on the mound for the Otters, Evansville would hold the Grizzlies to one hit — an infield single — through the first five innings of play.
Cordero smacked the night capper leading off the top of the sixth by belting an opposite field home run to the Hot Tub Suite in right field. The Otters thus pushed their advantage to 3-0.
Braden Scott would continue to blank the Grizzlies until the eighth inning, when he was lifted for Tyler Spring with two on and two out. Spring retired the would-be tying run in the form of Andres Regnault on two pitches, inducing a 5-3 ground ball to end the eighth.
That closed the line on Braden Scott’s phenomenal line, matching Ryan O’Reilly for a team-high 7.2 innings of work. He allowed only three hits and two walks, while striking out seven, and without surrendering a run.
Logan Sawyer then came on to close out the ballgame in the bottom of the ninth. Aside from a one-out solo shot to Jay Prather, Sawyer struck out the side to notch his twelfth save of the season — leading the Frontier League’s Midwestern Conference.
Braden Scott earned his third win of the season, while Matt Mulhearn suffered his first loss.
The Grizzlies and Otters square off in a Sunday rubber match at 5:45 p.m. from GCS Credit Union Ballpark. Fans can catch an audio broadcast of the game on the Otters YouTube channel, with a 5:30 p.m. pregame show.
