EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For the first time this season, the Evansville Otters have swept an opponent, downing the Lake Erie Crushers 6-3 at Bosse Field on Sunday.
In the finale, the Otters (27-40) fell behind in the middle innings, but for the second night in a row found redemption immediately to gain back the advantage, eventually leading to the brooms being brought out against the Crushers (38-28).
It was another terrific effort on the mound for Zach Smith (6-5). He tossed in six frames, allowing two unearned runs with seven strikeouts and one walk on four hits. The right-hander retired the first 10 batters to begin the night. Jack Eisenbarger (6-4) was handed the loss.
Leading the offense for the Otters, Justin Felix went two-for-three with a home run to plate the first run of the game in the third inning. Bringing home the winning run later in the contest, the catcher finished with two RBI on the night. Randy Bednar also notched a two-hit effort with a triple and a pair of RBI.
Lake Erie took the lead in the fifth inning after scoring a pair of unearned runs. Pouncing back in the sixth, the Otters answered to edge back ahead 3-2.
Pavin Parks led off the inning with a walk, then Bednar smoked one into the left-center gap to score him. With Bednar advancing 90 feet to home on the play, Felix hit a ground ball off the third base bag later to score the go-ahead run. The Otters never looked back.
They scored their final three runs in the seventh inning. Gary Mattis, David Mendham and Bednar all picked up RBI hits. Lake Erie finalized the scoring after plating one in the eighth frame.
Off tomorrow, the Otters look to go full steam ahead continuing their nine-game home stand against Schaumburg on Tuesday. With momentum and a win streak, the first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT. Coverage is available on the Otters Digital Network and FloBaseball.
