AVON, Ohio. – The Evansville Otters (22-36) dropped game two against the Lake Erie Crushers (30-26) on Saturday night, 9-2.
Dennis Pierce doubled to lead off the game and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch. Pavin Parks and L.J. Jones both hit two-out singles and Keenan Taylor hit a hard liner at third that scored another run as Evansville jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.
Braden Scott made his first start after the All-Star game where he pitched a scoreless inning and struck out two. In his 100th professional appearance on the mound, he worked through the first two innings, allowing a run.
Evansville had opportunities to add to their lead as the stranded six runners in the first three innings, including two runners in scoring position in the third.
Lake Erie added two runs in the third to take a 3-2 lead. They were held scoreless in the fourth and fifth, but took advantage of some Evansville miscues to add three more in the sixth. Braden Scott went 5.2 innings allowing six runs, only four being earned and struck out seven.
Nolan Thebiay closed out the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh. Rane Pfeifer made his first appearance of the season for Evansville, but struggled to dial in, allowing three runs. Colin Murphy finished the eighth, getting the final two outs of the inning.
The Otters couldn’t manifest a rally in the ninth and fell 9-2. Parks had two hits on the night for Evansville and Pierce reached three times as well.
Evansville is back in action tomorrow afternoon in Avon at 12:05 p.m. CT. They then travel into Canada to take on Quebec and Ottawa to finish the road trip.
