The Evansville Otters homered past the Gateway Grizzlies to win their fourth in a row and sweep their West Division rivals by a final score of 7-1 Thursday on the 106th Anniversary of Bosse Field.
Tuesday’s walk-off hero, Elijah Macnamee, jump-started the Otters’ offense with a three-run home run to left field in the bottom of the first.
From that at-bat onward, the Otters pitching staff could have handled the rest, though Evansville added plenty of insurance for good measure.
MacNamee would drive home his fourth RBI of the day in his second plate appearance in the bottom of the third with a two-out hit that bounced over the pitcher’s mound into center field.
Tim Holdgrafer pitched brilliantly for the Otters in his second start of the season. He allowed just four hits through six shutout innings, beguiling batters with a biting breaking ball to punch out an even 10.
Tyler Spring relieved Holdgrafer in the seventh, working out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the Grizzlies scoreless through six and a half, extending his scoreless appearance streak to 10 games and 14 innings to begin the season.
In the bottom of the seventh, J.R. Davis hit a towering drive out to left field, clearing the second row of Bosse Field billboards, to give the Otters a 7-0 lead.
Taylor Wright came on to pitch in the eighth, and allowed a run to score on a 1-3 comebacker that went for the second out. The score was then 7-1, where it would hold for the final.
Abraham Almonte came on out of the bullpen to pitch a 1-2-3 ninth and complete the series sweep of the Grizzlies.
Tim Holdgrafer earned the win, while Grizzlies starter Colton Easterwood took the loss.
The Otters look to extend their winning streak to five games, as they open a three-game weekend series with the Windy City ThunderBolts on Friday Night, a Big Brothers Big Sisters 50’s Night.
First pitch will be at 6:35 p.m, with a 6:20 p.m. pregame show on Frontier League LiveTV.
