The Evansville Otters are seeking local individuals and households interested in joining the host family program and hosting an Otters player for the 2020 season.

When players decide to continue their baseball career in independent baseball, many travel from across the country to play in the Frontier League. This means that they are hours away from friends and family members. For this reason, when they arrive in Evansville, they look for a touch of home to make them feel welcome. One way the community “adopts” the players is by serving as host families during the season. Families provide housing, as well as a support system, for the player(s) they host.

“Host families are big contributors to the success of the Evansville Otters organization,” Otters host family coordinator Sally Smith said.

“Families provide room and board for players from late April through Labor Day, which allows players to focus on their professional baseball careers in Evansville.”

Players need their own bedroom, but multiple players can share a bedroom. Some families house one player, and others house multiple players for the season.

The Evansville Otters are asking families to take players for both the season and for the two-week Spring Training period, April 29 through May 13.

“Spring Training is a great opportunity to see if the host family program is the right fit for your family and to help the team with short-term needs,” Smith said.

The regular season starts May 14 and ends around Labor Day. In the case of potential postseason play for the Evansville Otters, host families will be needed through late September.

The Evansville Otters are currently taking host family applications for the 2020 season.

Host families and players are asked to complete a questionnaire before they are matched, and this enables the organization to match a player with the appropriate family.

Once an application is reviewed, a home interview is set to verify the family is a good fit for the program.

The Otters do everything they can to ensure a suitable match is made for both the player and family.

“Many of the players and their host families have long-lasting relationships,” Smith said. “Every family has a unique experience based on the personality of the players, but also the makeup of the family. Being a host family for the Evansville Otters is a great way to volunteer with an established organization in our community, while supporting a player in his drive to play professional baseball.”

Participants in the host family program receive benefits as an expression of gratitude on behalf of the Evansville Otters for their support.

The University of Evansville men’s and women’s track and field team posted a number of strong finishes in a highly competitive IU Hoosier Hills Invitational, Friday night.

Breaking the mile run school record in back-to-back weeks, Anna Lowry took eighth with a 5:01.40-mile time, moving into the top-10 fastest miles ran in the league.

Michael Boots broke the school record in shot put with a 15.22-meter toss to finish in sixth place, while also taking seventh in the weight throw with a 14.79-meter attempt.

Haylee Harmeyer again bested her own 400-meter dash program record time to 1:01.15 to finish seventh in the event.

The Purple Aces will return in two weeks for the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships, held in Cedar Falls, Iowa, February 29 through March 1.

Aces split opening day of Jaguar Challenge

Week two for the University of Evansville softball team got off to an excellent with the Purple Aces earning a win over defending Conference USA champion Louisiana Tech on its way to a split in the opening day of the Jaguar Challenge.

“It was awesome to finally be playing outside.  We have only had two practices on the dirt this spring, so today was more about getting our feet under us,” UE head softball coach Mat Mundell said.  “It was a really windy day, so it presented some challenges for all of the teams.  I thought we did a great job of competing in the circle in both games.  This team continues to get better; we created some great scoring chances but left too many baserunners stranded today.”

Emily Lockhart earned her third victory of the season, tossing a complete game in a 5-4 win over Louisiana Tech top begin the day.  She allowed four runs, three earned, on nine hits.  The Lady Techsters struck first with two runs in the top of the first before the Aces cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame.  Jessica Fehr reached on a 1-out double and would come home on an error.

Katie McLean got the second inning started with a double to left and scored on a Lindsay Renneisen base knock to tie the score up at 2-2.  The big inning for UE came in the fourth when the duo of McLean and Renneisen struck again, each hitting a single to lead off the inning.  Kat Mueller advanced the pair on a sacrifice to put them in scoring position.  Renneisen would score the go-ahead run on a single by Eryn Gould before Halie Fain came home on a La. Tech error.  Gould would wrap up the scoring as she crossed the plate on a Jessica Fehr single.

Louisiana Tech inched back with a single run in both the fifth and sixth innings, but Lockhart would not let them get any closer, finishing off the win.  UE had nine hits with Fehr, McLean and Renneisen posting two apiece.

Austin Peay scored first in the second contest of the day for the Aces.  A single run crossed the plate in the bottom half of the second before UE tied it up in the third.  Alyssa Barela reached on a 1-out single before Haley Woolf (HBP) and McLean (walk) would load the bases.  Hannah Hood picked up the RBI when she was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Halie Fain, who pinch ran for Barela.

The Governors struck again in the bottom of the third, plating three runs to go up 4-1.  Evansville made an effort to come back, scoring a single run in the fifth on a Jenna Lis RBI single, but APSU hung on for the 4-2 victory.  They posted 11 hits while the Aces finished the game with six.  Izzy Vetter tossed three innings and allowed the four runs with three being earned.  Erin Kleffman went three scoreless inning and allowed three hits.

Tomorrow, the Aces face Louisiana Tech at 12:15 p.m. before the first of two meetings against host South Alabama at 4:45 p.m.

The University of Southern Indiana baseball team opened the 2020 campaign Friday with a doubleheader split against Davenport University at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex, taking the season-opener, 8-6, before dropping the nightcap, 10-1.

The Screaming Eagles (1-1) were led at the plate with a three-for-six afternoon from sophomore outfielder Austin Moody, including a pair of triples, two RBI, a run scored and a walk. Sophomore infielder/catcher Lucas McNew also tallied three hits, with two in the opener, including an RBI-double.

Senior pitcher Tyler Hagedorn picked up the day’s first decision in relief, with three innings pitched and three strikeouts.

Game One: USI 8, Davenport 6

Senior right-hander Austin Gossmann took the first start of the season for the Eagles. The Avon, Indiana-native did not register a decision despite collecting four strikeouts over six innings pitched, allowing three runs, just one earned.

USI answered the Panthers’ (1-1) second-inning pair with a bases-loaded walk by Moody, tallying his first RBI as an Eagle by scoring junior first baseman Aaron Euler. The Eagles tallied six walks total in the game, three to this point in the contest. The Panthers’ scoring came from what was eventually Gossmann’s earned run on a fielding error, followed by a fielder’s choice.

Moody returned to the plate to tie the game, 2-2, in the fourth with his first collegiate hit, a triple in the left-centerfield gap, to score senior catcher Wyatt Daly. The ensuing groundout to second from sophomore leftfielder Bryce Krizan scored Moody to take a 3-2 lead into the fifth.

Both teams began trading runs in the sixth inning. Gossmann left the game after the sixth in a 3-3 deadlock before Euler crossed the plate a second time. Hagedorn was dinged early on in his relief appearance for a pair of runs in the seventh inning before the Eagles put together a four-run bottom half of the frame.

Down 5-4, senior shortstop Kobe Stephens scored on a double off the bat of McNew, who was then pushed home by a single from senior designated hitter Manny Lopez. Junior second baseman Ethan Hunter capped the scoring with a single to right, scoring Daly and Lopez with help from a Panther’s fielding error.

Davenport added one final run on an RBI-triple in the ninth before Hagedorn shut the door for good. The 8-6 final tally earned the Evansville-native his first victory of 2020, and the eighth of his career, with three punchouts in three innings of relief.

Game Two: Davenport 10, USI 1 

Freshman centerfielder Steven Molinet picked up his first collegiate hit with a leadoff triple to open the second game, scoring on a subsequent groundout from Stephens. The Eagles did not carry the 1-0 lead for long, however.

Senior pitcher Paul Perez took the mound for Friday’s B-side, though it was short-lived; the righty was chased from the mound after allowing four runs in the second inning before getting the hook, leaving men on first and second with one out for sophomore reliever Sammy Barnett. The Panthers added one final blow in the stanza as Davenport’s Travis Harve belted a three-run home run to left field scoring both inherited runners, closing Perez’s line with six runs on three hits and four walks.

The Panthers added three more runs before the end of the night, picking up one more on Barnett before the end of the fourth, while the other two came from a triple allowed during freshman infielder/reliever Trent Robinson’s three innings to conclude the game. The Louisville-native racked up five strikeouts in his relief appearance.

Up Next

USI Baseball returns to the Hoover Metropolitan Complex tomorrow for the rubber match with Davenport. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. CT.

The Eagles make their way back to Evansville February 21 to begin a home-opening three-game set against Trevecca Nazarene University at the USI Baseball Field.