EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Evansville Otters got out to a five-run lead Saturday night and never looked back in route to a 10-6 win over the Tri-City ValleyCats.
Evansville grabbed a lead immediately in the first as Bryan Rosario and Steven Sensley hit back-to-back RBI singles. Two at-bats later, Zach Biermann’s two-run double expanded the lead to 4-0.
In the second, the Otters added a fifth run with a sacrifice fly RBI from J.R. Davis. The inning ended abruptly as Rosario was caught trying to advance as well on the sacrifice fly.
Tri-City finally got to Austin Gossmann in the third, capitalizing on a one-out error on Andy Armstrong. Back-to-back RBI singles from Cito Culver and Brantley Bell brought the ValleyCats within three.
The Otters extended their lead further in the fourth, yet again linking hits together. After a Miles Gordon two-out double, Rosario hit an RBI single, Sensley followed with an RBI double and Davis rounded out the fourth with an RBI single. After four, Evansville’s lead had risen to 8-2.
The game stood still into the seventh when the ValleyCats came closest to evening the game. Denis Phipps, who leads the Frontier League in RBIs, hit a one-out grand slam to bring the ‘Cats within two.
The Otters added a run of insurance in the seventh as Justin Felix hit his first home run since July 1st.
In the eighth, an RBI single from Davis put the game out of reach for good, lifting Evansville to a 10-6 lead.
Logan Sawyer entered the game in the ninth to close out the game, allowing just one hit in the ninth.
Austin Gossmann earned his sixth win of 2022, allowing six runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings. The loss went to Jose Cruz, his seventh of the year.
Davis, Rosario and Sensley each had multi-hit nights, with Davis leading the way in RBIs with three.
With the win, Evansville has a win against every other Frontier League team in 2022.
The series concludes with a Dog Days of Summer Sunday rubber match at 5:05 p.m. from Bosse Field.
