News
RECAP | Ponder shines as Otters withstand rally to win series
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Evansville Otters (25-12) squeezed out a win, surviving a late comeback attempt against the Mississippi Mud Monsters (14-24) on Saturday night, 4-3.
Ryan Wiltse pitched his third quality start of the season, now the most on the Otters this season. He faced off against Tyler Campbell, who was making his third start with Mississippi.
The Otters scored one early with an RBI single from Blake Robertson scoring Jon Ponder in the first inning.
Ponder then led off the third inning with a solo home run that just got over the wall past the leap of Kyle Booker in left field.
In the spirit of scoring in only odd-numbered innings, Dennis Pierce hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning that scored Ponder from third.
Mississippi finally got on the board in the sixth inning. After the first two batters reached on a walk and a double, Vantrel Reed hit an infield single up the middle that scored Slater Schield from third base.
Wiltse finished his day with 6.2 innings pitched and only one run given up. Joe Morrissey was the first guy out of the bullpen and he continued to dominate with 1.1 scoreless innings along with two strikeouts.
The Otters made it 4-1 in the seventh as Pierce would bring in Ponder once again.
Junior Cerda came in for the save in the ninth, but faced some adversity. Back-to-back singles led to a sacrifice fly by Kyle Booker. An error would score Kasten Furr to make it a one-run game. With runners at the corners, Cerda painted a 96 mph fastball to strike out Schield and give the Otters the win.
The Otters are now 25-12, winners of six straight at home and 13 games over .500 for the first time this season. Jon Ponder went 4-for-4 and scored all four runs for Evansville today. He is 14-23 this week with a 3-hit, 4-hit and 5-hit game.
The Otters look to sweep their fifth home series tomorrow against the Mud Monsters at 5:05 p.m. CT at EVSC’s Historic Bosse Field.
All games can be heard on 96.9 WYIR and the Otters Digital Network and can be viewed live on the Frontier League Network on HTN.
The Evansville Otters are the 2006 and 2016 Frontier League champions.
The Otters play all home games at EVSC’s Historic Bosse Field, located at 23 Don Mattingly Way in Evansville, Ind. Stay up to date with the Evansville Otters by visiting evansvilleotters.com, or follow the Otters on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For more information, visit evansvilleotters.com or call (812) 435-8686.
