Otters fall in rubber match to Freedom

The Evansville Otters’ bats fell silent in a 5-2 defeat to the Florence Freedom in the rubber match of the three-game set.

Florence plated two in the first inning to take an early advantage. Andre Mercurio knocked home a run with an RBI single and Jordan Brower contributed a sacrifice fly.

A Xavier Turner sacrifice fly in the third pushed the Freedom lead to 3-0.

Austin Wobrock further padded the Freedom lead with a two-run homer in the fourth.

The Otters finally got on the board in the seventh when Travis Harrison swatted a solo home run, his fourth of the year, to cut the deficit to 5-1.

In the ninth, the Otters tried to mount a comeback as Jeff Gardner plated Toby Thomas with an RBI single, but the rally would fall short as the Otters dropped the series finale 5-2.

Randy Wynne takes his third loss of the season for the Otters. Wynne threw an eight-inning complete game, allowing five runs, on four hits, while striking out four and not walking a hitter.

Freedom starter Christian DeLeon picks up the win after throwing eight innings of one-run baseball. DeLeon limited the Otters to just three hits and struck out three hitters.

Evansville now returns home to begin a three-game series with the Southern Illinois Miners at 6:35 p.m. tomorrow at Bosse Field.