MWL1 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

Wisconsin wins 8-2 over Beloit Rattlers are 9-1 in last ten games

June 12, 2014 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers News Release


GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers closed out their first half home schedule with an 8-2 win over the Beloit Snappers on Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Rattlers are 9-1 in their last ten games, but got some bad news in their quest for a playoff spot.

The Timber Rattlers (34-32) scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and needed just one hit to do it. Francisco Castillo singled with one out. Clint Coulter and Taylor Brennan each walked with two outs to load the bases. Jose Pena drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to force in Castillo. A wild pitch let Coulter score from third for a 2-0 advantage.

Wisconsin added to their lead in the bottom of the third. Castillo doubled to start the inning. He scored on a single to center by Michael Ratterree. Walks to Coulter and Brennan loaded the bases for Pena again. He grounded into a force play at second to allow Ratterree to score. Steve Halcomb made it 5-0 with a two-out single to left-center to knock in Brennan.

Beloit (27-40) got their first base runner of the game against Wisconsin starting pitcher Preston Gainey when Boog Powell drew a leadoff walk in the fourth. Melvin Mercedes doubled to left to put runners on second and third with no outs. Tyler Marincov drove in Powell with a sacrifice fly and Chih-Fang Pan got Mercedes home with a single, but Gainey held the Snappers to those two runs.

The Midwest League All-Star went seven innings, allowed five hits, walked three, and struck out three to put himself in position for his second win of the season.

Wisconsin's offense added to their lead with two more runs in the sixth inning. Rafael Neda singled and was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Angel Ortega. Johnny Davis singled to knock in Neda. Later in the inning Coulter would drove in Davis with a sacrifice fly.

Pena doubled to start the bottom of the seventh inning. Neda made the score 8-2 with a single to get Pena home.

Rodolfo Fernandez pitched a scoreless eighth and a scoreless ninth to close out the Snappers.

Wisconsin may have won for the ninth time in their last ten games, but they have been pushed to the brink of elimination in the first half Western Division Wild Card race.

The Burlington Bees edged the Clinton LumberKings 3-2 in eleven innings at Clinton on Thursday night. The Bees are now 36-30 with three games remaining in the first half. Quad Cities and Peoria lost their games on Thursday. Wisconsin is tied with Quad Cities and Peoria at 34-32, two games behind the Bees. Burlington holds the tiebreaker on all three teams chasing them and their magic number is one over all three teams.

If Burlington wins one of their three games at Cedar Rapids - or the Rattlers lose one of their three games at Quad Cities - this weekend, the Rattlers will be eliminated from playoff contention in this half.

Game one of Wisconsin's series at Quad Cities is Friday night at 7:00pm at Modern Woodmen Park. Victor Diaz (1-2, 3.48) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The River Bandits have named Andrew Thurman (3-3, 5.23) as their starter.

Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm. Friday's game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV.

Check out the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Statistics



Midwest League Stories from June 12, 2014


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