The Evansville Otters attacked early offensively against the Florence Freedom Saturday, winning by a final score of 10-1 to even the weekend series in front of 4,016 fans at Bosse Field.
The Otters provided plenty of early run support behind starter Austin Nicely, who was in control from first pitch.
Evansville exploded in the second inning against Freedom starter George Faue, putting up five runs.
Rob Calabrese scored on a throwing error by Freedom third baseman Taylor Bryant to give the Otters a 1-0 lead.
David Cronin followed with an RBI single to score Hunter Cullen, extending his on-base streak to 15 consecutive games and extending the Otters’ lead to two.
Ryan Long then ripped a two-RBI double to score Calabrese and Cronin to give the Otters a 4-0 cushion. A sac fly by Elijah MacNamee scored Keith Grieshaber to push the Otters’ fifth run across.
Five runs seemed to be enough run support for Austin Nicely, who retired 12 of his first 13 batters and didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning with two outs.
The Otters tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the fourth, as MacNamee had a two-RBI double to score Long and Cronin. MacNamee later scored on a sac fly from Dakota Phillips.
The Otters led 8-0 after four, causing the Freedom to pull starter George Faue after five innings. The lefty allowed eight runs-six earned-on eight hits with five strikeouts. He would take the loss, dropping his record to 2-4.
Nicely would cruise through seven shutout innings, allowing only four hits and tossing five strikeouts. He avenged his loss at Florence in July, earning his first win against Florence and his sixth win of the season.
The Otters added two more runs off knuckleballer Chris Amend in the sixth as Dakota Phillips worked an RBI walk with the bases loaded and Taylor Lane hit a sac fly to score Grieshaber. The Otters’ advantage reached 10-0 over the Freedom.
Trace Norkus would pitch two innings, allowing a run on an RBI single from Connor Crane, closing the door on Florence in his second appearance with the Otters.
Long, MacNamee and Phillips each had multiple RBIs with MacNamee recording three.
Additionally, Long and Grieshaber had multi-hit games.
The Otters’ magic number to clinch a postseason berth is four after Saturday’s win.
Evansville will look to earn a series win Sunday in the rubber game against the Freedom
First pitch Sunday will be at 12:35 p.m. from Bosse Field.
