Evansville, IN—The Empire State Greys (12-46) have defeated the Evansville Otters (33-25) 6-4 due to Jordan Scott’s late inning heroics.
The Otters jumped on Greys starter Ryan Sandberg for 2 early runs in the 2nd inning. Jomar Reyes doubled down the left-field line and was driven in by Bryan Rosario later in the inning giving them a 2-0 lead.
In the 5th, Josh Broughton was able to extend the Otter’s lead. The newly signed second baseman took reliever Clarke Davenport deep for a two-run home run making it a 4-0 ballgame.
Despite the early Evansville offense, the rest of the game was all Empire State. In the 6th, Manny Garcia got the offense going with a 2 RBI double. That double cut the Otters’ lead in half, 4-2, and sparked the rest of the club. Zach Gettys (W, 1-3) also entered the game with two outs in the bottom of the 6th and earned his first win of the season.
In the top of the 7th, Jaylen Turner brought the Greys within 1. The Greys first baseman got into one and hit his first professional home run to deep right field.
For the third straight inning, Empire State’s offense was able to score. With runners on the corners and 2 outs in the 8th, Jordan Scott stepped up to the plate and delivered his biggest hit of the season. Scott took Leoni De La Cruz (L, 0-2) deep to left field for a 3-run blast giving the Greys a 6-4 lead.
Nick Trabacchi worked out of trouble in the bottom of the 8th and struck out two in the process. Tanner Propst pitched a scoreless, striking out two as well, and picked up save number 3 on the year.
Another big story from tonight’s victory was the number of strikeouts the club was able to pick up. Five different arms threw for the Greys tonight and between them, they were able to strike out 16 Otters. Ryan Sandberg struck out 8 over his 4 innings of work and Davenport, Gettys, Trabacchi, and Propst all struck out 2 respectively.
Empire State will look to take the series tomorrow night in Evansville at 5:05 CST.