Powered by three home runs, the Evansville Otters downed the Gateway Grizzlies 5-4 on Tuesday night in the first game of their series at GCS Ballpark.
Evansville struck in the first inning for two runs. Travis Harrison slugged a solo home run, his sixth of the year, to open the scoring. Brant Whiting then singled home a run but was thrown out at second trying for a double to end the frame.
Gateway took the lead in the bottom of the frame with three runs. Artemis Kadkhodaian scored on a wild pitch and Justin Ellison then drove home two runs with a double to put Gateway ahead.
The Otters reclaimed the lead in the second on a two-run homer from Hunter Cullen, the first of his professional career.
Brant Whiting extended the lead to two with a solo home run, his first with the Otters, in the sixth.
Gateway got within one run in the bottom of the ninth on a Jeff Cardenas RBI double, but Mitch Aker struck out Kadkhodaian with a runner at second to end the ball game and pick up his sixteenth save of the year.
Spencer Medick gets the win for the Otters, his second of the season. After a shaky first inning, Medick went on to retire 12 straight batters at one point and finished with 7.1 innings, three runs allowed on just four hits and eight strikeouts.
Will Anderson is hung with the loss for Gateway. Anderson allowed five runs on 11 hits while striking out seven.
The two teams square off again tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. at GCS Ballpark.
