Otters strike first, fall to T-Bolts

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CRESTWOOD, Ill. – The Evansville Otters dropped the series to the Windy City ThunderBolts on Saturday night at Ozinga Field with an 8-2 loss.

The Otters (17-27) scored first, but immediately gave up the lead to the ThunderBolts (19-26). They tied the game in the second, but could not get ahead the rest of the night.

Giovanni DiGiacomo doubled on the second pitch of the game down the left field line. He was brought in with an Alec Olund RBI single to make it 1-0.

In the home first, Windy City scored two unearned runs on an error.

Evansville answered in the second with an unearned run of their own. Randy Bednar scored on a sacrifice fly from Justin Felix. That marked the final run of the game for the Otters with a 2-2 score.

The tie was broken up in the fourth inning with a ThunderBolts solo home run to left field. They added another in the fifth, then scored two a piece in the sixth and seventh frames.

Taking the loss was Zach Smith (3-5). The starter went five and two-third innings, striking out 10 and allowing nine hits on six runs, with only half being earned.

Local product Jakob Meyer made his professional debut tonight. The former Purple Ace went two scoreless innings with one strikeout and allowing just two base hits.

Offensively, the Otters notched five hits, two of which came from DiGiacomo. The bats have been held to three runs or less 27 times this season, and they have scored 11 runs in the last five games.

Finalizing against Windy City tomorrow, the Otters look to avoid the sweep with a 1:05 p.m. CT first pitch. Coverage is available on the Otters Digital Network and FloBaseball.