EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With great pitching, the Evansville Otters blanked the Windy City ThunderBolts Wednesday night 3-0 at Bosse Field.
Chip Korbacher (1-0) and John Mikolaicyk (3-6) dominated on the mound through the first five innings, each starter throwing no-hitters until the sixth. That streak was broken up first by ThunderBolts (34-53) with a double from Cam Phelts. Later, Clayton Keyes picked up the Otters (39-48) first hit in the home half of the frame with a single to right-center.
Ending the game tossing his longest out of the year, Korbacher threw six innings in his third start after transitioning from the bullpen while striking out five.
The sixth inning also marked the only scoring done tonight. After walking, J.J. Cruz scored on a past ball to open the scoring. Later, Keyes touched the plate on a wild pitch. Finalizing the run totals, Randy Bednar singled in Giovanni DiGiacomo later in the inning.
Out of the bullpen, Jon Beymer went six-up-six-down with three strikeouts. In the final frame, Michael McAvene (Sv. 8) made the game interesting by allowing a trio of base hits. The bases were loaded with the go-ahead run at the plate, but a double play ended the game on a great defensive effort from Pavin Parks and Delvin Zinn.
The Otters were out-hit by Windy City 4-3. Still, they capitalized on timely situations to seal the victory.
Going for their third sweep of the year tomorrow, Evansville will close out the mid-week series against Windy City with a 6:35 p.m. CT first pitch. Coverage is available on the Otters Digital Network and FloBaseball.