EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The Gateway Grizzlies suffered their second straight loss Tuesday night, getting routed by the Evansville Otters 15-5 at Bosse Field in a game that got out of hand early.
Gateway’s pitching staff was hammered from the jump. Starter Ben Harris (1-2) lasted just two-plus innings and was tagged for eight runs. A leadoff walk in the first set the tone, leading to a six-run explosion for the Otters. Logan Brown drove in a run with a fielder’s choice, J.J. Cruz added a sacrifice fly, and then Mark Black and Blake Robertson delivered back-to-back home runs — a three-run shot and a solo blast — to make it 6-0 before the Grizzlies even recorded three outs.
Evansville kept pouring it on, adding two more in the second and three in the third to chase Harris. By the end of the fourth inning, the Otters had piled up 14 runs. Reliever Jake Burcham came on and threw 3⅔ innings, allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out five, doing what he could to preserve the rest of the bullpen in a game already well out of reach.
The Grizzlies showed some fight with the bats late. In the fourth, Mitchell Sanford crushed a two-run opposite-field homer — his first of the season — to cut the deficit to 12-2. They added three more in the fifth on a two-out rally that featured a two-run homer from Bryson Horne (his fifth of the year), but that was as close as Gateway would get.
The final score stood at 15-5, dropping the Grizzlies to 4-6 on the young season.
Gateway will try to bounce back Wednesday night in the middle game of the series at Bosse Field. Blake Peyton gets the start for the Grizzlies against Evansville right-hander Ryan Wiltse. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. CT.
