MWL1 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

Timber Rattlers Playoff Preview

Published on September 2, 2003 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers News Release


GAME ONE: Wisconsin @ Beloit Wednesday, September 3. Game time 7:00pm
GAME TWO: Beloit @ Wisconsin Thursday, September 4. Game time 6:35pm
*GAME THREE: Beloit @ Wisconsin Friday, September 5. Game time 6:35pm
*-If necessary

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Beloit Snappers are meeting in a first round best-of-three Midwest League playoff series this week. The Timber Rattlers were the first half Western Division Wild Card. The Snappers were the second half Western Division Champion. The winner of this series will face the winner of the series between the Kane County Cougars and the Clinton LumberKings in the Western Division Championship series.

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCH-UPS

GAME ONE: WIS: Bobby Livingston (15-7, 2.73 ERA) vs. BEL: Dennis Sarfate (12-2, 2.84 ERA)

Livingston, a fourth round pick of the Seattle Mariners in 2001, set a Timber Rattler record for wins in a season. He also finished tenth in the Midwest League in ERA and third in the league in wins. In his last start of the regular season, he pitched his first professional complete game, a 2-1 victory over Kane County at Fox Cities Stadium on August 27th. However, Livingston is 0-2 with an earned run average of 8.10 in two starts against the Snappers this season. Beloit touched Livingston for 18 hits and nine earned runs in ten innings.

Sarfate, a ninth round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2001, has won nine decisions in a row and hasn't lost since May 18th. He finished second in the Midwest League in strikeouts with 140. Sarfate is 2-0 in three starts against the Rattlers this season with an ERA of 1.02 and nineteen strikeouts. He struck out ten Timber Rattlers in six shutout innings at Pohlman Field on August 12th.

GAME TWO: BEL: Khalid Ballouli (5-4, 4.15ERA) vs. WIS: TA Fulmer (9-8, 2.58 ERA)

Fulmer, a thirteenth round pick in the 2002 draft, broke the Timber Rattler single season ERA mark with a 2.58 earned run average. Fulmer finished eighth in the Midwest League ERA race and fifth in strikeouts with 130. His five complete games tied two other pitchers for the league lead in that category. Fulmer was 2-0 with an ERA of 1.13 in two starts against the Snappers. He allowed just eleven hits and two runs in sixteen innings.

Ballouli was a sixth round pick of the Brewers in 2002. He made three starts in April, the last on April 22nd, before missing all of May and June. He came back to the active roster on July 3rd with a start vs. Battle Creek. Went 5-4 with two saves and an ERA of 4.15 in fifteen appearances - eight as a starter and seven in relief. Ballouli went 2-1 with an ERA of 4.50 against the Timber Rattlers. He won as a starter on April 16 at Pohlman Field, lost as a starter at Fox Cities Stadium on August 9, and won in relief at Pohlman Field on August 14.

GAME THREE: BEL: Jason Baker (5-4, 4.08 ERA) vs. Felix Hernandez (0-0, 1.93 ERA)

The Mariners signed Hernandez as a non-drafted free agent earlier this season. He spent most of the season with Everett in the Northwest League. He has made two starts for the Timber Rattlers without a decision. His last outing was a seven inning, three hit, no run, ten strikeout performance at Kane County on August 29. He has not faced the Snappers this season.

Baker, a thirty-first round pick in the 2002 draft by the Brewers, was 5-4 with a 4.08ERA this season working mainly out of the bullpen. In his last outing, he gave up ten hits and eight runs to the Dayton Dragons in four innings. Baker beat the Rattlers as a starter in the first game of a double header in Beloit on April 18 allowing eight hits and two runs in five innings. Baker made two relief outings against the Rattlers in August and gave up a total of three runs and seven hits in 4-1/3 innings.

THE SEASON SERIES:
Beloit won the season series 9-5. The first four games of the season between the teams were to take place at Fox Cities Stadium April 3-6. However, poor weather forced the postponement of those games. The teams met for a six-game, four-day series at Pohlman Field in Beloit April 15-18 with double headers on the first and last day of the series. The Snappers took five of the six games.

APRIL 15 (GAME ONE) - BEL 4, WIS 3 (9 INNINGS)
The Rattlers led 3-2 with two out and two on in the bottom of the seventh. Callix Crabbe doubled in the tying run. In the bottom of the ninth, Steve Moss singled home the winning run.

APRIL 15 (GAME TWO) - BEL 5, WIS 3
Prince Fielder's solo homer in the third inning made the score 3-0. Mario Mendez added another solo shot in the fourth. Dennis Sarfate pitched 5-2/3 innings allowing only a solo homer to Jon Nelson.

APRIL 16 - BEL 5, WIS 4
The Snappers broke a 2-2 tie with a three run fifth inning and Josh Alliston held off a late Rattler rally.

APRIL 17 - BEL 8, WIS 4
Beloit tagged Tanner Watson for six runs in the first four innings and were never threatened in the game.

APRIL 18 (GAME ONE) - BEL 9, WIS 2
The Rattler defense committed four errors in the first three innings as the Snappers got out to another big lead.

APRIL 18 (GAME TWO) - WIS 5, BEL 1
Gary Harris had an RBI triple and scored on a wild pitch in the first inning and Wisconsin added three more runs in the third to salvage the final game of the series

The Rattlers and Snappers didn't see each other again until they met for eight straight games in August. The Rattlers welcomed Beloit to Fox Cities Stadium for a four game set August 7-10.

AUGUST 7 - WIS 3, BEL 2
Beloit tied the game at two with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Chas Terni and a two-out RBI single by Callix Crabbe. But, Gary Harris delivered a game winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to help TA Fulmer record his fifth complete game of the season..

AUGUST 8 - BEL 6, WIS 2
Wisconsin held a 2-1 from the first inning until the top of the sixth. Chas Terni drove in a pair of runs with a two out single to put the Snappers in front. They would tack on three more runs in the ninth.

AUGUST 9 - WIS 11, BEL 3
TJ Bohn and Jon Nelson each drove in three runs and Matt Hagen hit his 21st home run of the season in the Rattler win.

AUGUST 10 - BEL 7, WIS 3
Prince Fielder went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI and Eric Henderson gave up a run in six innings for the Snappers.

After an off day the scene switched to Pohlman Field-with a side trip to Miller Park

AUGUST 12 - BEL 4, WIS 2
Beloit built a 4-0 lead as Rickie Weeks made his Midwest League debut. Weeks had a double, a run scored and an RBI. The Rattlers scored two in the ninth after two were out, but Josh Alliston got the final out for the save.

AUGUST 13 - WIS 8, BEL 0
Jon Nelson, Carlos Arroyo, and Matt Hagen each drove in two runs. TA Fulmer pitched seven innings allowing five hits.

AUGUST 14 - BEL 4, WIS 2 (MILLER PARK)
Beloit rallied from a 2-1 deficit with a pair of fifth inning runs and tacked on one more in the ninth.

AUGUST 15 - WIS 11, BEL 9
Rene Rivera doubled twice and drove in three runs as the Rattlers banged out seventeen hits in the victory. Rivera and Michael Garciaparra both had four hits for Wisconsin. Prince Fielder and Travis Hinton hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the third.

TALE OF THE TAPE
WISCONSIN BELOIT
38-28 FIRST HALF RECORD 32-35
31-38 SECOND HALF RECORD 43-26
69-66 OVERALL RECORD 75-61
.256 TEAM BATTING AVERAGE .260
4.54 RUNS SCORED/GAME 4.70
77 HOME RUNS 67
3.34 TEAM ERA 3.65
204 ERRORS 199

WISCONSIN TEAM LEADERS:
Batting Average: Gary Harris - .285
Home Runs: Matt Hagen - 21
RBI: Jon Nelson - 91
Stolen Bases: Harris - 36

Wins: Bobby Livingston - 15
ERA: TA Fulmer - 2.58
Strikeouts: TA Fulmer - 130
Saves: Bryan Heaston - 8

BELOIT TEAM LEADERS:
Batting Average: Prince Fielder - .313
Home Runs: Prince Fielder - 27
RBI: Prince Fielder - 112
Stolen Bases: Kennard Bibbs - 55

Wins: Dennis Sarfate - 12
ERA: Manny Parra - 2.73
Strikeouts: Dennis Sarfate 140
Saves: Bo Hall - 11

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

BELOIT:

JOSH ALLISTON: This Beloit reliever appeared in six games against the Rattlers and picked up a win and three saves. Alliston gave up just six hits and one run in his nine innings of work against the Rattlers.

KENNARD BIBBS: Finished second in the Midwest League in stolen bases. He was 7-for-8 in stolen base attempts against Wisconsin. Plus, Bibbs hit .354 (17-for-48) against the Rattlers this season.

PRINCE FIELDER: The seventh overall pick in the 2002 draft was named Midwest League MVP for 2003 in a vote of the league's field managers. He finished first in RBI (112), second in homers (27), and tied for third in batting average (.313). He hit .353 (18-for-51) with two homers and eleven RBI against Wisconsin this season.

TONY GWYNN, JR.: The Brewers second round pick in the 2003 draft went 9-for-30 (.300) with five RBI in eight games against the Rattlers.

MARIO MENDEZ: Mendez may only have hit .246, with 2 homers and 30 RBI on the season. But against the Rattlers he hit .440 (11-for-25) with both his home runs and five RBI.

JOHN VANDEN BERG: A product of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was 10-for-23 (.435) against the Timber Rattlers. He also had the longest hitting streak in the Midwest League at nineteen games.

RICKIE WEEKS: The second overall pick in the 2003 draft is hitting .349 with a homer and fifteen RBI in twenty games with Beloit this season. He went 4-for-12 (.333) in four games against the Rattlers.

WISCONSIN:

CARLOS ARROYO: The Colombian outfielder had a season high twelve game hitting streak snapped on the final day of the regular season. During the streak, Arroyo was 18-for-58 (.310).

TJ BOHN: Bohn had a very good second half for the Timber Rattlers. In sixty-five games, he hit .303 with six homers and thirty-four RBI. Plus, Bohn led the Timber Rattlers in outfield assists with eighteen.

BULLPEN: The Rattler bullpen has been inconsistent down the stretch run. Late-season additions of Juan Ovalles and Brandon Moorhead from Everett and Frontier League All-Star Justin Dowdy after the break along with mainstays Oscar Delgado, Bryan Heaston, Miguel Martinez, Greg Wear, and Dave Viane should will make the bullpen a key to the Rattler post-season run.

MICHAEL GARCIAPARRA: Garciaparra, the thirty-sixth overall pick in 2001, had a solid second half with a .267 batting average. He also had a career high nine game hitting streak during the second half.

MATT HAGEN: Hagen tied the club record for homers in a single season on August 9th. He did not hit another long ball the rest of the season. The 12th rounder out of Liberty in 2002 only hit .188 in the second half.

GARY HARRIS: The Mariners eighteenth round pick in 2003 led Wisconsin is batting average (.285), hits (150), and stolen bases (36). Against Beloit, Harris had an on base percentage of .543 and scored fourteen runs.

JON NELSON: Nelson, a 26th round pick in last year's draft, wound up third in the Midwest League in RBI with 91. Nelson, who also had sixteen homers on the season, picked up fifty-six of those RBI in the second half of the season. Nelson tied for the Midwest League lead in doubles with 38 and wound up with the most strikeouts (168). He had a ten game hitting streak snapped on the final day of the season. Nelson had a homer and twelve RBI against the Snappers.

RENE RIVERA: The Rattlers catcher hit .368 (14-for-38) against the Snappers with nine RBI. The Mariners second round pick in 2001 hit .275 with nine homers and 54RBI on the season.

Check out the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from September 2, 2003


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