CRESTWOOD, Ill – The Evansville Otters gave up seven runs in the third inning, leading to an 8-3 loss to the Windy City ThunderBolts.
The scoring started in that third inning when the T-Bolts got seven straight men on base, with most of the plays bringing in one run at a time. After an RBI walk from Peyton Isaacson, Payten Robertson and Brynn Martinez put up back-to-back RBI singles.
The game broke open one batter later as Matt Morgan brought in two with a single. One final run scored on a fielder’s choice RBI from Nikola Vasic.
Evansville began to cut into the lead in the fifth as Tanner Craig nagged his first professional RBI with a hard-hit double to center.
Immediately, the ThunderBolts responded with an additional run of support in the fifth, as Vasic brought in his second run of the game.
The Otters’ comeback attempt continued in the sixth, but they were yet again held to a singular run. George Callil brought in the run on a fielder’s choice groundout.
In the seventh, Evansville tried once again to put together a run of offense, but Jeffrey Baez’s RBI single was all they would find.
Windy City held on to their 8-3 advantage to the end, evening up the series.
The win went to Kenny Mathews, who struck out eight in his five innings, giving up just one run. Austin Gossmann received the loss, allowing seven runs in his 2.1 innings of work.
The three-game set concludes on Thursday night with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch at Ozinga Field.
