Evansville, IN (June 16, 2023) – The Gateway Grizzlies suffered their fifth straight loss and sixth in their last seven games on Friday night, as they were held to just one run on two hits in a 6-1 defeat at Bosse Field against the Evansville Otters. 

Neither starting pitcher gave up any early runs, with Jhon Vargas (3-2) pitching a perfect game into the fifth, and Lukas Veinbergs (3-3) also holding the Otters off the board through three innings. But in the fourth, with two outs, Evansville strung together three singles in a row, with Bryan Rosario’s breaking the scoreless tie and making it 1-0 Evansville. 

In the fifth inning, the Otters got runners at second and third base with none out, and Veinbergs then got the next two batters out. On the verge of getting out of trouble, however, Dakota Phillips knocked a three-run home run out to right-center field to make the score 4-0. 

Gateway was still being no-hit in the sixth when Vargas walked back-to-back batters with two outs, and Clint Freeman broke up the no-no and shutout with a clean RBI single to right-center field to cut the Otters’ lead to 4-1. The Grizzlies then had the tying run at the plate in the sixth and seventh, but could not score, and in the bottom of the seventh, Evansville scored two more two-out runs on a double by Jomar Reyes for the final margin. 

The Grizzlies will look to bounce back and even up the series on Saturday, June 17, at 6:35 p.m. CT, with Carson LaRue making the start for Gateway against Evansville right-hander Justin Watland at Bosse Field. 

(Gateway Grizzlies Press Release)