JOLIET, Ill. – In an extra-innings nail-biter, the Evansville Otters walked away with a 9-7 victory over the Joliet Slammers on Tuesday night at Slammers Stadium.
A seesaw contest the whole way through, tonight’s game featured the Slammers (21-25) jumping ahead early with the Otters (18-28) battling back to take the lead in the middle innings. Joliet answered late in the game and had chances to jump ahead, but nine innings was not enough baseball tonight and Evansville came through when it mattered most.
Joliet plated two runs in the first inning. Evansville answered in the second with one of their own. Jomar Reyes hit a two-out single to keep the inning alive. After an error from the Slammers’ defense, Delvin Zinn roped a base hit up the middle to plate Reyes and make it a 2-1 game.
Tying the contest in the fourth inning, the Otters added another thanks to a Mason White home run. They took their first lead of the night in the fifth, plating four more runs.
With two runners on and one down, David Mendham singled to score Zinn. Two batters later with another out on the scoreboard, Randy Bednar launched a three-run homer over the left-center wall to give the Otters a 6-2 lead.
Beginning in the sixth frame, the Slammers would go on to produce four unanswered runs, tying it up in the seventh at six with a trio of men touching the plate.
Neither club’s bats would catch fire again in the next two innings, so extra play was required.
In the top of the tenth, White stepped to the dish and hit his second home run of the game to left-center field. Plating three runners on the big fly, that was all the Otters needed as they led 9-6.
Michael McAvene (Sv. 4) slammed the door on the Slammers’ last efforts to come back. They plated one run in their final inning, but it was not enough.
Jon Beymer (3-1) took the win after pitching one and two-thirds quality frames out of the bullpen. Knotted in the eighth with runners at the corners and one out, he set the next two men down without a run coming in. Cole Wesneski (3-1) took the loss after surrendering the lead in the tenth.
White and Bednar brought home seven of the nine Otters’ runs, combining for five extra-base hits. Zinn also strung together a multi-knock night.
Tomorrow, Evansville will attempt to win the series over Joliet while chasing down a divisional foe. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT. Coverage is available on the Otters Digital Network and FloBaseball.
