Evansville jumped out in front in the first inning for the second straight game. David Mendham and Graham Brown led off with back-to-back singles and JT Benson grounded into a fielder’s choice to get a run in. The Otters stranded two runners in the first and two in the second.
Anthony Patterson III made his third professional start and pitched extremely well. He worked through two scoreless innings to start the game, facing the minimum. His day’s only blemish came after some traffic in the third and a fielding miscue allowed two runs to score.
A Graham Brown two-out single and JT Benson rocket for a double tied the game at two in the fifth. Gateway responded by scoring one in the fifth as well.
Patterson pitched into the sixth and after two runners reached via the error and a bloop double, Evansville turned to Nick McAuliffe with runners at second and third with one away. Patterson finished with his first professional quality start, pitching 6.1 innings, striking out two and allowing just two earned runs. McAuliffe got two straight outs, allowing a run to score on a sac fly, and sent Evansville to the eighth down 4-2.
JT Benson led off the eighth with a walk, then after back-to-back outs, Keenan Taylor launched his team-leading eighth home run to tie the game at four.
McAuliffe went back out in the eighth and allowed a run to score. Evansville got runners to first and second with two away, but couldn’t push across the tying run and fell 5-4. The Otters utilized just two pitchers while Gateway went through six in tonight’s ballgame.
The Otters are back in action tomorrow morning at 10:45 a.m. CT for the series finale. Following the series in Gateway, the Otters return home Friday night for their first home series with division rivals Florence.
