Hawks Bullpen Dominate in 4-3 Victory

 

The South Bend Silver Hawks (4-4) fell behind early on Friday night at Four Winds Field but scored two runs in the third and two more in the fourth to earn a 4-3 comeback victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (4-4). Johnny Omahen (1-0) pitched three dominating relief innings, striking out seven of the ten batters he faced to earn the win.

 

Wisconsin, the Class-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Designated hitter Jose Pena led off the inning by reaching on an error by Hawks shortstop Andrew Velazquez. After catcher Clint Coulter flew out to right, first baseman David Denson, who entered the game hitting .095, crushed a two-run homer over the fence just to the left of the batter's eye. The Timber Rattlers went on to load the bases with two outs but Hawks starter Adam Miller escaped the jam by inducing second baseman Chris McFarland to hit a harmless fly ball to right.

 

The Timber Rattlers added to their lead in the top of the third. Right fielder Michael Ratterree led off the inning by launching a solo homer deep over the left field wall on an 0-2 offering from Miller. The next two batters reached to put men on first and second with nobody out. Miller escaped another jam by getting Denson and third baseman Steven Halcomb to pop out and getting a groundout to third to end the inning.

 

South Bend, the Class-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, struck back in the bottom of the third inning to cut the lead to 3-2. With one out, Velazquez lined a single to center. Second baseman Jamie Westbrook followed with a fly ball double off the right field wall that put runners at second and third with one out. This brought left fielder Stryker Trahan to the plate. Trahan ripped a triple down the right field line that scored Velazquez and Westbrook.

 

The Hawks took the lead in the bottom of the fourth off of Timber Rattlers starting pitcher Anthony Banda (0-2). Catcher Michael Perez doubled to the top of the left field wall with one out. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch. First baseman George Roberts singled to center, scoring Perez and tying the game at 3. Roberts stole second and advanced to third on a single by right fielder Colin Bray. Center fielder Breland Almadova then hit a ground ball to short. The shortstop flipped to second for one out but the relay throw to first was not in time and Roberts came home with the go-ahead run.

 

That was all the offense that South Bend would need on the night as the Hawks bullpen continued its dominance with 5 shutout innings. Omahen came in to start the fifth inning and threw three shutout innings with seven strikeouts. JR Bradley relieved Omahen and tossed a scoreless eighth inning before giving way to Daniel Gibson (S, 2) to start the ninth. Gibson gave up a one out single to McFarland but stranded him at second by striking out Ratterree and getting Pena to ground out to third to end the game. The five shutout innings put the season line for the bullpen at 30.1 IP, 5 ER, a 1.48 ERA, and 31 strikeouts.

 

The Hawks and Timber Rattlers will meet again Saturday night at 7:05pm in the second of three games between the two clubs. Preston Gainey (0-0, 0.00 ERA) takes the hill for Wisconsin while Blake Perry (0-0, 7.20 ERA) gets the ball for the Silver Hawks. It will be a Flat Screen Saturday as the Silver Hawks will give away a 39" flat screen TV every inning throughout the game. Come on out to Four Winds Field and get your Hawks magnet schedules (free to first 1,000 fans through the gates) and see if you can get lucky and take home a flat screen TV.