After Brock Kotschevar worked a perfect first inning, the Otters wasted no time getting on the scoreboard.  Ashwin Stratton led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch.  He advanced to third on a ground ball by Nic Pearson and scored on a single by Cole Fronning.  The second run of the inning came on two hustle plays.  Michael Wiederich beat out the play at first after the ball was bobbled by the shortstop.  Fronning never slowed down as he beat the play at the plate to score from second.

The Otters loaded the bases in the second as Matt Scott drew a walk, Jack Culbertson was hit by a pitch and Stratton walked.  Fronning came up with his second hit of the night as he singled to score two more runs.

Kotschevar gave up two runs in the third as the Otters were unable to turn a double play with the bases loaded and two runs scored.  Sauk Rapids-Rice tied the game in the sixth as Kotschevar gave up a two-run home run to Cole Fuecker.

Kotschevar pitched five-and-two-thirds innings, gave up four runs, scattered nine hits, walked two and struck out six batters.  Stratton came in to pitch the final one-and-a-third innings to pick up the win.  He gave up one hit and struck out two.

“This was a great team victory tonight,” said Head Coach Kevin Pearson.  “Brock threw extremely well.  He really only made one mistake, and that was the home run in the sixth inning.  It’s too bad he didn’t get the win because he definitely deserved it.  Ashwin came in and did exactly what he needed to do to earn the victory.  It was great to see Cole Fronning get a cou[le of big hits to drive in three runs.”

The next game for the Otters is Tuesday night at St. Cloud Tech at 7:00pm.