EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For the second night in a row, the Evansville Otters gave up a late lead to the Schaumburg Boomers and dropped the series with a 4-3 defeat at Bosse Field on Wednesday night.
The Otters (13-22) allowed just two hits and no runs going into the eighth inning but the Boomers (22-12) found late life to steal another victory.
In the third inning, Giovanni DiGiacomo picked up his first base hit in an Otters uniform with a single. Mason White later brought him in with a double to left-center field.
DiGiacomo notched another hit in the infield to lead off the fifth frame and David Mendham plated him, roping a ball to left field to make it a 2-0 game.
Evansville scored their final run in the seventh inning. Logan Brown reached on an error and later, White tallied his third hit of the game to bring home the run and make it 3-0.
Schaumburg then went on to score four unanswered runs in the eighth and ninth innings, with a trio coming in the final frame.
The first three pitchers for the Otters showed exemplary work on the rubber. Starter Ryan Wiltse, Chip Korbacher and Leoni De La Cruz all threw multiple innings of scoreless baseball, silencing the Boomers bats.
Michael McAvene struck out the only batter he saw in the eighth inning to strand two runners in scoring position, after Grif Hughes surrendered one to begin the frame. McAvene (0-3) took the loss when he allowed Schaumburg to take the lead in the ninth. Mitch White (2-1) earned the win after pitching a scoreless eighth for the Boomers.
White led the Otters offense with three hits and two RBI. Mendham and DiGiacomo also nabbed multi-hit games.
Looking to avoid the sweep, the Otters will conclude the three-game series tomorrow against the Boomers at 6:35 p.m. CT. Coverage is available on the Otters Digital Network and FloBaseball.
