The Evansville Otters lost to the Florence Y’alls Wednesday night 13-6, as two big innings by the Y’alls proved to be the difference.
Andy DeJesus got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning, doubling home Miles Gordon from second base after the Otters’ leadoff batter reached via the base-on-balls and stole a bag during DeJesus’ at-bat.
In the bottom of the first, Trevor Craport hit his fourth home run of the season with two outs and a runner at third to give the Y’alls a 2-1 lead off of Otters starter Tyler Vail.
The Otters tied things up in the top of the third when Miles Gordon scored from third on a wild pitch.
Then Evansville managed to take the lead when Riley Krane collected his team-leading thirteenth RBI with a groundout to second.
The Otters added another run in the fourth inning off the bat of Trent Nash, doubling home Christopher Pujols, who had reached base after an eleven-pitch walk, with two outs.
The Y’alls cut the Otters’ lead down to one in the bottom half of that inning, when Chad Sedio hit a leadoff home run.
Dakota Phillips drove in DeJesus from third with one out to give the Otters a 5-3 lead in the top of the fifth.
The Y’alls rallied to score six runs in the fifth, however, giving them a 9-5 lead over the Otters. Luis Pintor doubled home Joe Lytle to tie the game, before the go-ahead run scored on an error.
Denver McQuary relieved Vail after Craport delivered a two-run single. One more run would score off of McQuary in the inning, charged to Vail.
Five hits in the inning, along with two Otters errors and two wild pitches propelled the Y’alls to their big inning.
The Otters cut the Y’alls’ lead down to three when Gordon scored from third on a wild pitch in the top of the sixth, the second time he had done so in the game.
After a scoreless sixth, McQuary ran into more trouble after a leadoff walk to Craport and a subsequent double off the bat of Harrison DiNicola put two men in scoring position. Another run would come in to score when Riley Krane threw wide of catcher Dakota Phillips after leaping to reign in a high chopper hit by Jordan Brower. McQuary was lifted after walking Will Baker to load the bases.
Reid Bukowski came on in relief, and three runs would score with him on the mound. Bukowski struck out Chad Sedio after giving up a two-out, two-run single to Luis Pintor to end the Y’alls’ four-run seventh. The score was then 13-6, and would hold through the last two innings.
Tyler Vail took the loss, while the win went to Jered Cheek, who relieved Y’alls starter Frank Valentino.
Offensively, Miles Gordon and Andy DeJesus both collected multi-hit performances. For DeJesus, it was his third in a row and his second consecutive three-hit game.
With the loss, the Otters fall to 9-4 on the season, and sit a game behind the Florence Y’alls in the West Division standings.
They will look to win Thursday’s rubber match and climb back into a first place tie with Florence. First pitch will be at 5:34 p.m. CT.
