The Evansville Otters claimed their third straight trip to the postseason as they defeated the Normal CornBelters 4-2 on Saturday night at the Corn Crib.
Evansville will be at worst a wild card team in the Frontier League playoffs, but they do head into the final day of the regular season tied with the River City Rascals at 51-44 atop the Frontier League Western Division. Since the Rascals hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Otters, it would take a River City loss and an Evansville win tomorrow for the Otters to claim the division crown.
Travis Harrison started off Saturday’s game with a bang, as he hit a solo homer, his tenth of the year, to give the Otters 1-0 lead over the CornBelters in the top of the third.
Harrison doubled the Otters lead in the top of the third with an RBI single.
Mike Rizzitello ripped a double to right in the top of the fourth inning that plated two runs and put Evansville ahead 4-0.
Michael Baca got Normal on the board with an RBI single in the eighth.
Normal tacked on another run in the bottom of the ninth, but Tyler Vail struck out Jacob Bissell with runners at second and third to end the game and earn his second save of the season as the Otters won 4-2.
Austin Nicely picks up his eighth win of the year for the Otters after throwing six shutout innings, allowing six hits and three walks, while striking out three.
Chance Simpson takes the loss for the CornBelters. Simpson went five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out two.
The Otters and CornBelters wrap up their series and the regular season tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. at the Corn Crib.
Coverage of the series with the CornBelters can be found on WUEV 91.5 FM presented by Kruckemeyer & Cohn with Sam Jellinek on the call.
The Evansville Otters are the 2006 and 2016 Frontier League champions. Playoff packages are on sale now for potential postseason games at Bosse Field and can be purchased by calling 812-435-8686 or at the Bosse Field box office.
The Otters play all home games at historic Bosse Field, located at 23 Don Mattingly Way in Evansville, Ind. Stay up-to-date with the Evansville Otters by visiting evansvilleotters.com, or follow the Otters on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
