The Evansville Otters could not recover from a six-run first inning as they fell 6-3 to the Joliet Slammers on Wednesday evening at Bosse Field in front of 1,719 fans.
Joliet jumped out early with six runs in the first. Trenton Hill doubled home the first run of the game and Justin Garcia then doubled home Hill to make it 2-0. An infield single for R.J Thompson brought home the third run of the frame. Then with runners at the corners, a caught stealing of Thompson at second allowed Danny Zardon to come home from third on the back end of the play. London Lindley capped off the frame with a two-run single.
Evansville cut the deficit in half with a three-run third. Ryan Long tripled home two runs and Travis Harrison then brought Long home with a sacrifice fly.
From there, nothing but zeroes were put up on the scoreboard with Joliet sealing the 6-3 victory and evening the series at a game a piece.
Scot Hoffman garners the win for Joliet. Hoffman worked six innings allowing three runs on five this while walking three and striking out five.
Tyler Vail takes the loss, his fourth of the year, for Evansville. Vail lasted just .2 innings, giving up six runs on four hits while walking three and striking out one.
Isaac Sanchez picks up the save for Joliet as he struck out the side in the ninth to finish the game.
The Evansville bullpen was superb in the loss with Keaton Conner, Matt Chavarria, and Garrett Harris combing to throw 8.1 innings of shutout baseball to finish the game.
The Otters and Slammers will play the rubber match of the series tomorrow evening at 6:35 p.m. at Bosse Field which is Thirsty Thursday.
