Evansville, Ind. – The Evansville Otters mounted a two-out ninth inning rally and won the game in a sudden death tiebreaker 5-5 over the Schaumburg Boomers Friday night at Bosse Field.
The Otters were down to their last out in the ninth inning when Austin Bost bashed a solo home run over the left field wall to trim the deficit to one.
Bryan Rosario followed with a base hit and stole second base. Noah Myers walked and then both runners advanced on a wild pitch.
Another wild pitch reached the backstop and scored Rosario, tying the ballgame. The walk off run was stranded at third base.
Jake Polancic entered on the mound for Evansville in the 10th inning and struck out the first two batters. Schaumburg’s Will Prater went 12 pitches with Polancic before blooping a ball down the left field line, scoring the Boomers’ Commissioner’s Runner.
The bottom of the 10th put Kona Quiggle as the Commissioners’ Runner at second base. He advanced to third base on a balk. Jeffrey Baez drove home Quiggle on a sacrifice fly to right field.
Evansville elected to pitch in the sudden death tiebreaker, bringing Polancic back to the mound. The Commissioner’s Runner started at first base and advanced to second base on a bunt.
Polancic then struck out the next two batters to win the game for the Otters.
Schaumburg scored three runs in the first two innings while Evansville scored one apiece in the first two innings.
Myers notched a leadoff hit for Evansville in the first and Baez drove him home.
The Otters hit three straight singles in the second inning and a run scored before the final out of a Boomers’ triple play.
Tim Holdgrafer pitched a quality start for Evansville, allowing three runs over six innings – his 10th quality outing of the year.
Rosario extended his on-base streak to 19 games while Bost notched two hits, the first hits of his pro career.
Evansville battles Schaumburg in the middle game of the series Saturday evening at 6:35 PM CT. Gates open at 5:30 for fans to enjoy Hoosier Lottery and 44 News Star Wars Night.
All home and road Otters games this season are televised on FloSports with audio-only coverage available for free on the Evansville Otters YouTube page.
The Evansville Otters are the 2006 and 2016 Frontier League champions.
