NORMAL, Ill.- The Evansville Otters gave up eight runs in the bottom of the eighth inning in an 11-1 loss to the Normal Cornbelters.
Evansville (38-30) was trailing by just two runs entering the bottom of the eighth, but could not stop the Normal offense.
Normal (32-36) tied their season high with 20 hits recorded on the night.
Otters starter Hunter Ackerman gave up two runs early in the contest before settling in to a groove.
In the second inning, a wild pitch allowed Jesus Solorzano to score.
A sacrifice fly from Brian Hakes followed, bringing Justin Fletcher across the plate for an early 2-0 lead.
Ackerman wouldn’t give up another run until the seventh inning.
A sacrifice fly from Deigo Cedeno scored Solorzano to make it 3-0 in favor of Normal.
Ackerman went seven innings giving up three runs on 12 hits. He struck out two and walked two as well.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Otters broke through for their first run.
Dane Phillips led off the frame with a double and was moved over to second on a Josh Allen groundout.
A wild pitch from Cornbelters starter Sean Blackwell allowed Phillips to score to make it 3-1.
Normal took over in the bottom of the frame.
An RBI triple from Santiago Chirino scored Yeixon Ruiz to get the scoring started.
Aaron Dudley followed with an RBI single to score Chirino to make it 5-1.
The floodgates opened when Fletcher delivered a double with the bases loaded to score three runs.
Fletcher later scored on a wild pitch from Hasten Freeman.
The scoring ended with a two RBI double from Dudley in his second time up in the inning to bring in Hakes and Ruiz for an 11-1 lead.
Blackwell earned the win for Normal in just his second start of the year.
He went seven innings giving up six hits but no runs with four strikeouts and three walks.
The Otters and the Cornbelters will settle the series tomorrow evening at 6:35 p.m. at The Corn Crib.
Fans can listen along on 91.5 WUEV with Lucas Corley providing play-by-play coverage.
Evansville returns home to Bosse Field on Aug. 8 to open a series against the Florence Freedom, the first game of a six-game homestand.
Tickets for August home games are still available by going to evansvilleotters.com or calling 812-435-8686.
