The Evansville Otters kept it rolling on the river with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the Southern Illinois Miners Friday night from Bosse Field.
In front of 2,400 fans at Bosse Field, the Otters won their fourth in a row to remain atop the Frontier League’s West Division.
The Miners took the first lead of the night when Ian Walters scored from third on a sac fly by Luke Mangieri. The Miners would score their only other runs of the night when Jared Mang hit an opposite-field home run that scored Anthony Brocato, who had reached on a fielding error.
Evansville answered quickly in the bottom of the second, when Elijah MacNamee smoked a leadoff home run off the back wall of billboards beyond left field.
The Otters would cut the Miners’ lead to one when J.R. Davis doubled home Miles Gordon in the bottom of the fifth, making the score 3-2.
Braden Scott would toss his last frame in the top of the seventh, throwing his sixth scoreless inning while allowing only his second hit of the night on an infield single. Scott finished the top half of the inning with ten strikeouts and only one walk.
After the stretch, the Otters would rally to tie the game when Miles Gordon collected his second hit of the day on an RBI double that scored Andy DeJesus. Then, with two out, J.R. Davis drove home the go-ahead run with an infield single back up the middle that was stopped on a slide behind the second base bag. The Otters then led by what would be the 4-3 final.
Taylor Wright came on to pitch a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts.
After the Otters were kept from scoring insurance in their half of the inning, Logan Sawyer came on to work the top of the ninth with the slim, one-run lead.
Facing the meat of the Miners’ order, Sawyer would tear off a perfect ninth inning, picking up his league-leading fifteenth save.
The Otters will continue their four-game series with the Miners with doubleheader action Saturday night. Game one will start at 5:05 p.m. Saturday night’s game will be broadcast on Frontier League LiveTV, with a 4:50 p.m. pregame show.
