GAME 1 – Evansville 5, Schaumburg 4
The Otters (34-45) fell on the right side of the seesaw battle with the Boomers (39-39) to open the night.
After falling behind on two separate occasions, Evansville tied the game at two in the fourth inning with a Logan Brown double to left-center field. The next inning, David Mendham hit a two-out two-RBI double to give the Otters a 4-2 lead.
Schaumburg battled back, and in the seventh inning tied the game to force extra innings. Into the eighth, Brown delivered again with his third RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly to score the go-ahead run.
Michael McAvene (Sv. 7) slammed the door in the last frame. The Boomers bunted over to third the inherited runner, but the Otters closer struck out the next two to kick the series off with a win.
Pitching in the seventh, Alex Valdez (1-0) surrendered his first run of the year, but took the win. Jake Joyce (3-4) was dealt the loss after surrendering the final lead change.
Randy Bednar, Mednahm and Brown each had two hits. Timely knocks from Mendham and Brown gave them multi-RBI efforts.
GAME 2 – Schaumburg 5, Evansville 3
After trading runs in the first inning, the Otters jumped ahead 2-1 in the top of the second with a Mendham RBI base hit. The lead did not last long, and in the home half of the frame Schaumburg garnered a two-run homer to jump ahead.
The Otters offense struggled to find an answer until the last inning. Meanwhile, the Boomers plated another two unearned runs in the fifth frame to pad their lead.
Moving to the seventh, the game was made interesting as Mendham picked up another RBI hit, putting runners on first and third with one out trailing by two. But, the next batter grounded into a double play to end the game.
Right-hander Terance Marin (0-7) took the loss after allowing five runs (three earned) in four and one-thirds innings. Jakob Meyer pitched in the final one and two-thirds and did not give up a run. Out of the bullpen for the Boomers, Aaron Glickstein (4-5) took the win after throwing in four and one-third innings of one-run ball.
Both Mendham and JJ Cruz each had a pair of hits, and the Otters were outhit 8-7 in the nightcap, after the Boomers outhit the Otters 10-9 in the opener.
Back to a regular schedule tomorrow, the Otters will see Schaumburg at 6:30 p.m. CT to play in the final three games of the series. Coverage is available on the Otters Digital Network and FloBaseball.
