The Evansville Otters handed their skipper Andy McCauley his 1,000th professional, managerial win Friday night with a 10-3 victory over the Gateway Grizzlies in Sauget, Ill.
Ryan O’Reilly took the hill for the Otters in the first game of the weekend series, and he would go on to earn his first professional winning decision.
The Grizzlies took the first lead of the ballgame in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI groundout. The run that scored would be unearned because of a catcher’s interference call made earlier in the inning.
The Otters responded in stride with a seven-run second inning, off the backs of three long balls hit in the inning. The first home run was crushed to right field by Otters first baseman Dakota Phillips.
Then, with John Schultz and Michael Gangwish aboard after back-to-back walks from Grizzlies Jorge Tarvarez, Miles Gordon homered off the foul pole in right.
Finally to cap off the scoring, J.R. Davis hit a two-run home run to right. The Otters then led 7-1, after touching home seven times — the most in any one inning scored by the Otters this season.
Evansville would extend its lead to 8-1 in the top of the fourth, when J.R. Davis scored from third on a wild pitch thrown by Greg Duncan, who relieved Tavarez after two.
The Grizzlies answered in the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run from Andres Regnault, cutting the Otters’ lead to 8-2.
Gateway tacked on another run thanks to an RBI base hit from Nick Rotola with two out in the bottom of the sixth. The score was then 8-3, following the scoring of another unearned run.
The Otters would respond for two more runs in the top of the seventh, as an RBI groundout from Andrew Penner scored Michael Gangwish, before Miles Gordon scored from third on a wild pitch. Evansville then led by the final score of 10-3.
Samson Abernathy relieved Ryan O’Reilly in the bottom of the sixth, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings while striking out three.
University of Southern Indiana product Jacob Bowles came on to make his pro-ball debut in the ninth, putting up a scoreless frame of his own while picking up a punchout.
The win was Andy McCauley’s 1,000th as a pro-ball manager. In a career dating back to 1998 with the Frontier League’s Kalamazoo Kodiaks, McCauley has taken five different organizations to twelve playoff appearances, winning three league championships — one with the Otters in 2016.
McCauley brought winning baseball back to Evansville after he took over in 2010, leading the Otters to four playoff appearances, a league championship, and the organization’s first division championship since 1999. His regular season win total with the Otters now stands at 498.
The Otters look to win their series against the Gateway Grizzlies Saturday, with a 6:45 first pitch. Fans can catch an audio broadcast of Saturday’s game on the Evansville Otters YouTube channel.
