Evansville sent out Parker Brahms and he was met by Gateway’s bats early. Gateway found three runs in the opening frame before Brahms sat down the final three batters of the inning. He was chased in the second inning.
Jackson Malouf appeared in his first professional game and looked solid in a tough situation. He worked through traffic in the second and allowed two runs, both of which were unearned. Gateway used some shaky defense to jump ahead 9-0. Malouf worked three total innings, striking out four while not allowing a walk.
Colin Murphy entered in the fifth but worked through some early hiccups. He allowed two runs in the fifth to give Gateway an 11-0 lead, but escaped the inning with a double play.
Evansville got on the board in the fifth after a leadoff single from Logan Brown, followed by a two-out RBI single from Ellis Schwartz. L. Brown singled again in the seventh, followed by JJ Cruz and Schwartz to load the bases. David Mendham hit a two-out RBI single to plate two and cut into the gateway lead, 11-3.
Murphy went 3.1 innings, striking out three and allowing one more run in the eighth, but looked good in the long relief appearance. Jon Beymer entered to mop up the end of the eighth and the ninth, and worked a clean 1.2 innings. The Otters couldn’t find any runs in the ninth and fell by a final of 12-3.
The bottom four in the lineup accounted for most of the offense tonight, getting six of the team’s eight hits in the ballgame.
The Otters are back at Bosse tomorrow night for the Christmas in July sponsored by Old National Bank and Santa Clothes Club, with a specialty jersey auction and postgame fireworks, presented by Santa Clothes Club and Big Kabooms Fireworks. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT and gates open at 5:30 p.m..
