Otters blast Thunderbolts in first game of 3-game homestand

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - The Evansville Otters scored five in the sixth inning and three in the seventh to cruise past the Windy City ThunderBolts 10-3 in the series opener Tuesday night at Bosse Field.

The Otters trailed by one entering the bottom of the sixth inning and small ball keyed the inning. Bryan Rosario led off with a walk and a steal. Jake Green followed with a bunt base hit and Kelvin Melean laid down a squeeze bunt that was thrown away by the Windy City pitcher, leading to the first run of the inning.

A Noah Myers double, Ethan Skinder single and Dakota Phillips fielder’s choice would lead to three more runs and Skinder would score on a wild pitch to close out the five-run inning.

Evansville busted the game open in the seventh with Noah Myers’ two-run homer over the right field wall. Myers finished the day with three hits, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. He added five RBIs, accounting for half of the Otters’ runs.

On the mound, Jhon Vargas earned his second win of the season for Evansville. The righty allowed nine hits but limited the ThunderBolts to just three runs while striking out eight batters. All three Windy City runs scored in the fourth inning.

Evansville scored first for the 14th consecutive game with Skinder scoring on a fielder’s choice. Their second run came in the fourth on a Myers RBI hit before the Otters would take the lead in the sixth.

Jon Beymer worked a perfect two innings in relief, striking out five ThunderBolts. Kevin Davis closed out the game, striking out the side in the ninth. Evansville pitchers struck out a total of 16 batters.

Bryan Rosario had another productive day on the base paths for Evansville with three stolen bases and three runs. He leads the league with 16 stolen bases.

Jomar Reyes had two hits to extend his hit streak to 11 games. He has reached base in all 13 games he’s played in this season.

The Otters face Windy City in the middle game of the series Wednesday night. Wednesday is Senior Connection Wednesday with discounted senior GA tickets. First pitch is 6:35 PM CT from Bosse Field.

All Otters games this season are televised on FloSports with audio-only coverage available for free on the Evansville Otters YouTube page.

The Evansville Otters are the 2006 and 2016 Frontier League champions.