In a nip and tuck contest, the Evansville Otters pulled away late from the Gateway Grizzlies in a 6-4 victory, to move into three-way tie for first place in the Frontier League Western Division on Thursday night at GCS Ballpark.
The Otters are now tied atop the division with the River City Rascals and the Florence Freedom at 49-44 on the season with just three regular season games remaining on the schedule.
An RBI groundout from Travis Harrison put the Otters on the board in the first inning.
Gateway tied the game in the bottom of the third on a Trae Santos RBI single.
A sacrifice fly from Brent Sakurai gave the Grizzlies the lead in the bottom of the fifth.
Evansville reclaimed the lead with two runs in the sixth. Harrison hit a solo homer, his ninth on the year, to tie the game and a double play off the bat of Brant Whiting allowed Jeff Gardner to score from third to put the Otters ahead.
Shane Mardirosian hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to give Gateway a 4-3 edge.
Evansville rebounded to score two in the top of the eighth. David Cronin tied the game with an RBI single and Ryan Long gave the Otters the lead with a sacrifice fly.
Brant Whiting provided an insurance run in the top of the ninth with a solo homer, his fifth of the year, to give the Otters a 6-4 lead.
The Grizzlies put two runners aboard in the bottom of the ninth, but Tyler Vail struck out the final two batters to earn his first save of the season and preserve the 6-4 win for Evansville.
Randy Wynne collects his ninth victory of the season after throwing seven innings, allowing four runs, three earned, while walking one and striking out six.
Josh Glick is dealt the loss for the Grizzlies. Glick pitched just .2 innings, allowing the go-ahead run to score in the eighth.
The Otters now travel to Normal to take on the Normal CornBelters in the final regular season series of the season. The three-game set will begin tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. at The Corn Crib with Ty Hensley on the mound for the Otters.
