AVON, Ohio – In the final game before the 2024 All-Star break, the Evansville Otters were defeated by the Lake Erie Crushers, dropping the Sunday matinee 8-5 at Crushers Stadium.
The Otters (21-36) were in a winning position early, but two big innings from the Crushers (37-20) doomed Evansville.
In the second frame, two home runs were hit by Lake Erie to make it a 3-0 game.
Evansville conducted all their scoring in the third inning. Jake Green sparked a one-out rally with a double down the left field line. After a walk and a hit-by-pitch, Gary Mattis drew a free pass to drive in the first Otters run of the game.
Adding on, David Mendham drove home another on a fielder’s choice RBI. With two outs in the inning, Dakota Phillips launched a three-run missile over the right-center wall to make it a 5-3 game.
During the home half of the inning, Lake Erie scored one unearned run. They tied the game in the next frame with an RBI double. Later in the fourth, the final lead change occurred with the Crushers hitting their third home run of the game to right field, finalizing the scoring.
The Otters out-hit the Crushers 8-7. Alec Olund and Green led the offense with two hits each.
Out of the bullpen, Jakob Meyer tossed in two and two-thirds scoreless innings while striking out three. Following suit, Grif Hughes went six-up, six-down in the seventh and eighth frames.
The Otters will have a chance to wind down with the mid-summer classic taking place in Quebec. David Mendham and Zach Smith will both represent Evansville for the West Division on Wednesday night.
After four days off, Evansville will take the field again on Friday when they battle the Washington Wild Things at home. The first pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. CT. Coverage is available on the Otters Digital Network and FloBaseball.
