Holdgrafer struck out a season-high 10 batters in his fourth eight inning shutout performance of the season. Evansville plated six runs in the second inning to take a big early lead.
Evansville’s ace pitcher Holdgrafer allowed just six baserunners, all reaching on singles. He did not walk a batter and worked three in-order innings including 11 straight batters retired over a three inning stretch.
Noah Myers gave the Otters their first lead of the series on the very first at-bat of the game, blasting a leadoff home run 400 feet off the top of the Ozinga Field scoreboard.
The Otters then blew the game open with a six run second inning on six hits.
Jomar Reyes opened with a basehit and Kona Quiggle batted him home with a triple off the right field wall. Quiggle then scored on a sacrifice fly.
Austin Bost continued the inning with a double and Bryan Rosario notched a single. Myers poked a base hit through the left side to score Bost.
Ethan Skender applied the exclamation mark with a three-run home run to left for a 7-0 Evansville lead.
Kevin Davis pitched a perfect ninth inning completing the Otters’ eighth shutout of the season- second most in the league.
Myers hit his 13th home run of the season and fourth leadoff blast. Reyes added a two-hit day and Skender advanced his on-base streak to 16 games.
Holdgrafer earned his eighth win of the season – tied for third most in the league. His 2.63 ERA is sixth best in the Frontier League.
The Otters return home to face the Washington Wild Things this weekend. Friday is Breast Cancer Awareness Night with a jersey auction and post game fireworks. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM CT from Bosse Field.
