The Evansville Otters claimed their third straight trip to the postseason as they defeated the Normal CornBelters 4-2 on Saturday night at the Corn Crib.

Evansville will be at worst a wild card team in the Frontier League playoffs, but they do head into the final day of the regular season tied with the River City Rascals at 51-44 atop the Frontier League Western Division. Since the Rascals hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Otters, it would take a River City loss and an Evansville win tomorrow for the Otters to claim the division crown.

Travis Harrison started off Saturday’s game with a bang, as he hit a solo homer, his tenth of the year, to give the Otters 1-0 lead over the CornBelters in the top of the third.

Harrison doubled the Otters lead in the top of the third with an RBI single.

Mike Rizzitello ripped a double to right in the top of the fourth inning that plated two runs and put Evansville ahead 4-0.

Michael Baca got Normal on the board with an RBI single in the eighth.

Normal tacked on another run in the bottom of the ninth, but Tyler Vail struck out Jacob Bissell with runners at second and third to end the game and earn his second save of the season as the Otters won 4-2.

Austin Nicely picks up his eighth win of the year for the Otters after throwing six shutout innings, allowing six hits and three walks, while striking out three.

Chance Simpson takes the loss for the CornBelters. Simpson went five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out two.

The Otters and CornBelters wrap up their series and the regular season tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. at the Corn Crib.

Coverage of the series with the CornBelters can be found on WUEV 91.5 FM presented by Kruckemeyer & Cohn with Sam Jellinek on the call.

The Evansville Otters are the 2006 and 2016 Frontier League champions. Playoff packages are on sale now for potential postseason games at Bosse Field and can be purchased by calling 812-435-8686 or at the Bosse Field box office.

The Otters play all home games at historic Bosse Field, located at 23 Don Mattingly Way in Evansville, Ind. Stay up-to-date with the Evansville Otters by visiting evansvilleotters.com, or follow the Otters on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

University of Southern Indiana Volleyball (6-2) wrapped up competition in the Hall of Fame City Challenge Saturday, finishing the weekend with a 3-1 record by defeating Seton Hill University and Notre Dame College in straight sets.

Junior Elexis Coleman (Joliet, Illinois) led the Screaming Eagles in kills with 17 on Saturday, pushing her season total to 72.

Freshman Taylor Litteken (Foristell, Missouri) amassed eleven blocks on the day, firmly controlling the matches at the net.

Match 1: USI 3, Seton Hill 0

• The Eagles posted runs of 15-7, 11-3, and 10-1 against the Griffins, piling up points in a hurry to take control in each set
• Sophomore Casey Cepicky (St. Louis, Missouri) posted a double-double, led with 18 assists and added 12 digs
• USI dominated at the net, winning the blocks battle 8-1 in large part to a six-block effort by Litteken
• Coleman led the Eagles in kills (10), followed by sophomore Alyssa Yochum (Columbia, Illinois) with six and freshman Sidney Hegg (Manasha, Wisconsin) with five
• Senior Erika Peoples (Bloomington, Illinois) led the team in digs with 13, added eight assists and posted the only two service aces of the match
• The Eagles forced 27 Seton Hill attacking errors while limiting themselves to eight, and posted an attack percentage of .253 to the Griffins’ .115

Match 2: USI, Notre Dame

• Five Eagles posted five or more kills against the Falcons: Coleman (7), Hegg (6), Litteken (6), Yochum (5) and junior Amanda Jung (Belleville, Illinois) (5)
• Cepciky led USI in assists (19) and digs (14), adding a second double-double in as many matches on Saturday
• Senior Haley Limper (Springfield, Illinois) led the Eagles with two service aces, added nine digs
• Just as it did against Seton Hill, USI controlled the net. Coleman, Hegg and Litteken all posted five or more blocks

The Hall of Fame City Challenge All-Tourney Team

Elexis Coleman was the lone representative of USI on the all-tournament team in Canton. Coleman led all participants in blocks (18), finished second in attack percentage (.300).

UE completes tournament this afternoon

 ELON, N.C. – Three University of Evansville volleyball players notched double figure kills to help the Purple Aces overcome a 2-1 deficit to earn a 3-2 victory over Gardner-Webb on Saturday morning in the Phoenix Classic.

After winning the first set, the Purple Aces (4-2) dropped the second and third games.  Facing a 19-11 deficit in the fourth set, UE rallied for a 27-25 win before clinching the match with a 15-11 triumph in the fifth set.

“It was great to see our girls battle so hard after our loss last night.  It shows the kind of character that we have built as a program,” UE head coach Manolo Concepcion said.  “We have a vision of resilience, grind and growth mindset and we saw that today.  We are hoping to continue this momentum when we face our last opponent of the tournament this afternoon.”

Senior Mildrelis Rodriguez had her best game of the young season, finishing with 20 kills and 17 digs.  Rachel Tam finished with 17 kills while Rocio Fortuny notched 11, including two huge ones to push UE to the win in the fifth set.  Cecilia Thon led the way with 30 assists and Olivia Goldstein finished the morning with 24 digs.

Gardner-Webb (3-2) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match, taking the opening frame by a 25-17 final.  Evansville posted the first two points of the morning, including a kill by Kerra Cornist, but the Runnin’ Bulldogs responded with a 10-3 run to go up 10-5.  From there, they pulled away for the win.

Evansville quickly regrouped and found its winning ways in the second game.  UE took its largest lead of six points (12-6) on a kill from Mildrelis Rodriguez.  Gardner-Webb got within a pair at 17-15, but the Aces scored three in a row with Elizabeth Giller and Joselyn Cornel recording kills to push UE to a 25-21 victory to tie the match at 1-1.

UE looked to be headed to its second set win of the day in the third stanza, leading most of the way.  A Gardner-Webb error extended the UE lead to 17-12.  That lead remained at five points when a Coronel service ace made it a 19-14 game.  The Bulldogs chipped away at the gap and tied the game at 22-22 on an Elizabeth Griffith ace. Kills by Rocio Fortuny and Rachel Tam put UE in position to clinch the set, up 24-22, but the Bulldogs rallied once again for a 27-25 win.

The Bulldogs got off to a quick start in the fourth set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead.  Their advantage reached as many as eight points at 19-11, but Evansville showed great fight, going on a 9-1 run to tie the game at 20-20. Fortuny had a kill and ace in the run while Tam added an ace of her own in the rally.  Both squads continued to battle to the finish before a Tam kill gave UE the 27-25 victory to force the fifth and deciding set.

In the fifth set, eight ties led to an 8-8 score.  Two kills by Fortuny saw the Aces wrestle away an 11-8 lead.  The Bulldogs got within one, but the Aces were able to clinch the match with a 15-11 win in the deciding frame.

Later today at 3:30 p.m. CT, the Aces complete the weekend with a match against North Carolina Central.