EVANSVILLE, IN–The River City Rascals won their fourth straight game on Sunday afternoon at historic Bosse Field, beating the Evansville Otters 8-2 in the series finale to earn the series sweep. The Rascals scored eight unanswered runs in the victory, and Jonny Ortiz (3-1) earned the win in his first professional start on the mound.
The Otters scored two in the first inning on a wild pitch. The Rascals immediately responded with a two-run single from Trevor Achenbach in the top of the second, and took the lead in the third following a Zach Lavy leadoff triple and JD Hearn RBI groundout. The Rascals got three in the sixth on two seperate errors from the Otters defense. Braxton Martinez scored on an error by first baseman Travis Harrison, and Ransom LaLonde and Gage West scored on an error by second baseman David Cronin.
Paul Kronenfeld got a solo blast in the eighth to make it 7-2, and a Kevin Suarez RBI double in the ninth brought the score to the final of 8-2.
Ortiz was brilliant for the Rascals, allowing just one earned run and two hits in six innings, while walking two and striking out four. He retired the final 10 hitters he faced in a row. Jacob Gangelhoff, Matt Chavarria and Joe Iorio combined for three scoreless innings out of the Rascals bullpen to seal the win.
Patrick McGuff (3-1) took the loss for the Otters, allowing three runs in four innings in his first start since May 30th.
The Rascals (25-20) are off Monday, and begin a three-game set in Schaumburg, IL against the Boomers on Tuesday night, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30pm CT. Hector Hernandez is expected to start the series opener for the Rascals.
