A three-run seventh inning propelled the Evansville Otters to a 6-5 victory over the Florence Freedom on Sunday afternoon at Bosse Field in front of 879 fans.
The win gave the Otters the series victory, as Evansville took three out of four against Florence over the weekend.
Travis Harrison got the Otters on the board with an RBI double in the first.
Ryan Long swatted a solo home run in the third, his eleventh home run of the year, to put the Otters ahead 2-0.
Florence scored their first run of the game in the fifth when Keivan Berges singled home a run.
Evansville got that run back in the sixth on a Jeff Gardner RBI double to put the Otters ahead 3-1.
The Otters broke the game open with three runs in the seventh. J.J Gould led off the frame with a double and was brought home on a David Cronin single. After Long was hit by a pitch, Austin Bush chopped a ball over the head of the first baseman to score Cronin from second. Gardner capped off the inning with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-1 Evansville.
Florence got within one run in the ninth thanks to a Berges grand slam, but Alex Phillips came on and struck out the final two hitters to earn his third save of the year and secure the 6-5 victory for the Otters.
Austin Nicely gets the win for Evansville, his sixth of the year. Nicely went five innings, allowing one run on six hits while walking four and striking out three.
Mike Castellani absorbs the loss for the Freedom. Castellani worked three innings, giving up two runs on four hits while striking out one and walking one.
