A five-run third inning did in the ThunderBolts on Wednesday night as they dropped their second straight game to the Evansville Otters, 8-4 at Bosse Field.
The Otters scored the game’s first three runs in the bottom of the first when they put their first three runners on base on a bloop single and two walks. Back-to-back groundouts and an infield single brought those three runs in.
The Bolts got one back in the third on Ryan Basham’s RBI single, knocking in Brandon Anderson. After JT Restko doubled to put runners on first and third with one out, the stage was set for a big inning, but Windy City’s hitters couldn’t come away with the big hit, and the next inning, Evansville put the game away.
The Otters chased Andrew Werner from the game after three innings and eight runs. In the third, they came up with five runs on five hits. The big one came off the bat of Jeff Hanson, who hit a bases-loaded double into the right field corner to bring in three runs. The start was Werner’s shortest of the season.
The ThunderBolts’ bullpen did a great job of holding the score where it was with Ryan Quigley pitching three perfect frames and Tom Mueller holding the Otters scoreless for two.
Windy City had one small rally in them. In the eighth inning, three straight singles and an error brought three runs in to score, cutting the lead to four, but they never got closer than that, falling by the 8-4 final.
Chris Peters pitched six strong innings for the Otters, striking out seven and retiring 11 of the last 12 batters he faced. He earned the win (2-10). Werner fell to 9-4 on the loss.
The Bolts and Otters finish the series on Thursday night at 6:35. Brent Solich (6-5) gets the start as Windy City tries to avoid the sweep. He will oppose Nick Sottung (5-1). The game can be heard on Sportsjuice.com.
