Smith leads Otters to shutout win at Washington

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WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Evansville Otters used a two-hit outing from Zach Smith to shutout the Washington Wild Things Friday night, 4-0.

The Otters kicked off the game with the bases loaded in the first but were unable to score on the opportunity.

The opening three innings had chances both ways but both defenses kept the game scoreless.

In the fourth, the Otters finally broke through. After an error on Washington center fielder Hector Roa allowed Justin Felix to turn a single into three bases, Andy Armstrong drove in the opening run on an RBI double off the third baseman’s glove and down the left field line.

From there, the pitchers and defensive group again settled in, keeping Evasnville’s lead at 1-0. Starting with a flyout in the fourth inning, the Evansville pitchers sat down the next 12 Wild Things in order.

In the seventh, Evansville struck for insurance. The Otters got a pair of men on and with two outs, J.R. Davis dropped a single into left to double the lead for the Otters. Directly after Davis’ hit, Zach Biermann brought in a pair of runs with a double down the left field line, increasing the lead to 4-0.

Augie Gallardo and Jake Polancic connected for three strong innings to close out the game for Evansville, finishing out the 4-0 win.

The win went to Zach Smith, who gave up no runs on two hits in his six full innings. The loss fell to Sandro Cabrera, allowing three runs on five hits.

With the win, Evansville has won three straight games for the first time since their nine-game win streak in late June/early July.

The series continues on Saturday night from Wild Things Park in Washington with a 6:05 p.m. CT first pitch. Audio-only coverage is available for free on the Evansville Otters YouTube page.