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RECAP | Salvaggio, Castillo lead Otters to series win in wild middle game
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Evansville Otters (55-34) scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to come back and win the series against the Florence Y’alls (50-38) on Saturday night, 8-5.
Colby Morse took the hill for Evansville against John Girard for Florence, with both guys making their seventh professional start and facing each other for the first time.
After a couple of speedy scoreless frames, Florence took the lead in the third inning on a two-run home run. They would make it 3-0 in the fifth inning.
Evansville responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on back-to-back home runs by T.J. Salvaggio (three-run) and Amani Jones (solo). Salvaggio’s 15th home run puts him in sole possession of the team lead while Jones’ sixth was also his 100th professional hit.
No one would score until the eighth inning, where Florence took a 6-5 lead on a solo home run and RBI single.
The Otters would respond immediately again with their second four-run inning of the day. LG Castillo would give Evansville the lead with a single to left field that brought home Logan Brown and Marcos Gonzalez. Salvaggio drove in two more on another single to make it 8-5.
Junior Cerda got the ninth and converted his 18th save of the season to give the Otters a series win.
Evansville is now 55-34, having taken both series this week against Washington and Florence. They are now 4.5 games ahead of the Y’alls for the first Wild Card spot and only three games behind Washington in the Central Division. With the Otters' win and Windy City’s loss, their magic number to clinch a spot in the 2026 Frontier League Playoffs dropped to six.
Salvaggio drove in five runs, a new season-high. He also extended his hitting streak to 13 games, the second-longest active streak in the Frontier League. On the pitching side, Morse recorded his fifth quality start in seven appearances this season.
Evansville will try to get its sixth sweep of the season and gain more ground in the Wild Card race tomorrow against the Y’alls starting at 12:35 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.
