For the second night in a row, the Evansville Otters overcame an eight-inning deficit to force extra innings, but they could not pull out a win Thursday, as the Otters fell to the Southern Illinois Miners in a 6-4 rubber match finale.
The Miners scored first in the second inning when Polo Portela uncorked a wild pitch that brought Ian Walters home from third. Southern Illinois would plate their second run in the inning on an Arturo Nieto RBI base hit. After two innings of play, the Miners led 2-0.
The Otters cut into Southern Illinois’ lead in the bottom of the fourth when Dakota Phillips smacked an opposite field, leadoff home run to cut the Miners’ lead in half. The homer was Phillips’ tenth of the season.
Southern Illinois would add another run to their ledger with a solo blast for Anthony Brocato, leading off the sixth inning. The Miners then led 3-1.
Portela would get the final out of the sixth, securing his tenth quality start of the season.
In the bottom half of the eighth inning, Andretty Cordero tied the game with a towering blast to left field, a two-run shot that served as his first with the Otters this season.
Unable to score in the bottom of the ninth, the Otters would have to battle the Miners through extras for the second night in a row. Logan Sawyer came on to pitch, allowing the go-ahead run to score on a hard hit ground ball from Nolan Earley that bounced over the head over the first baseman Dakota Phillips.
The Miners would then add some much-needed insurance on Anthony Brocato’s second home run on the night, a two-run shot to left center.
The Otters managed to plate the international tie-breaker in the bottom of the tenth to make it a 6-4 game but could not rally beyond that.
Blake Stelzer earned the win, while Logan Sawyer suffered the loss. Ryan Miller recorded the save.
The Otters will host the Lake Erie Crushers in a series opener on E is for Everyone Night Friday at 6:35 p.m., and fans can follow a broadcast of the game on Frontier League LiveTV with a 6:20 p.m. pregame show.
