Evansville sent out Joan Gonzalez for his fifth start of the season. After surrendering a two-out single to give Lake Erie a 1-0 lead, he wired through the fifth keeping the Crushers off the scoreboard.
The Otters had some opportunities offensively early in the game to answer. They got at least one runner on in each of the first five innings. Evansville loaded the bases in the second but couldn’t score. They strung a couple of hits together in the fourth, including the first professional hit from Jared Campbell, but couldn’t score there either.
Gonzalez entered the sixth, but was pulled after three straight runners reached, one of which scored to give Lake Erie a 2-0 lead. Nolan Thebiay entered to finish the sixth. He allowed one inherited runner to score, but limited the damage.
Evansville had two pitchers debut from Ole Miss. The first was Gunnar Dennis in the seventh. He looked impressive, facing the minimum and earning his first two professional strikeouts. Alex Canney entered the eighth, stranding two runners and also picking up his first pro strikeout. He pitched into the ninth, leaving with two on and two out. Nick McAuliffe entered to finish the ninth, stranding both runners he inherited.
The Otters got a two-out hit from Mason White, but couldn’t push across any runs, falling 3-0 after being shut out for the fourth time this season.
Evansville’s pitching staff did a great job working through traffic to keep the Otters hopes alive, stranding 16 runners on the night.
The Otters are back in action tomorrow night with a Working Distributors Thirsty Thursday scheduled for a 6:35 p.m CT first pitch. Evansville will then travel to Florence to take on the Y’alls for a weekend series.
