Beloit scores twice in the ninth to beat Wisconsin
GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers were two outs from a 1-0 win over the Beloit Snappers Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Snappers would rally with two runs in their final at bat to beat Wisconsin 2-1.
Jake Gatewood put the Timber Rattlers (47-83 overall, 24-26 second half) in front with Wisconsin's first hit of the game. The shortstop hit a leadoff homer to the bullpen in right-center in the fifth inning.
Starting pitcher Josh Uhen tossed six scoreless innings for the Timber Rattlers. He pitched around six hits, including three doubles, with four strikeouts. Uhen did not walk a batter in his longest outing of the season for Wisconsin.
The Snappers (52-78, 26-34) nearly tied the game in the top of the eighth inning against reliever Luis Ortega. James Harris started the inning with a triple. Ortega got the next batter on a shallow fly to left. Gatewood saved a run by making a leaping grab of a liner off the bat of Max Kuhn. Ortega walked Sandber Pimentel before giving way to Gian Rizzo. The inning ended with the Rattlers still up 1-0 when Rizzo got a foul pop for the third out.
Beloit rallied again in the ninth and this time they cashed in on the opportunity. Rizzo walked Justin Higley to start the inning. Higley stole second to get into scoring position. Tim Proudfoot dropped a one out double down the line in right to score Higley with the tying run.
Joe Bennie followed with a single to put runners at the corners with one out. Then, Harris dropped a safety squeeze bunt up the first base line to score Proudfoot with the go-ahead run. The hit was the third of the game for Harris.
Wisconsin's defense fell asleep on the play and didn't cover third or second base after the bunt. This allowed Bennie to take third and Harris to get to second base. Rizzo issued an intentional walk to load the bases and escaped more damage when Kuhn's fly ball to center was caught by Luis Aviles, who threw home to get Bennie at the plate for the third out.
Blake Allemand lead off the Wisconsin ninth inning with a single against Koby Guana, the third Beloit pitcher of the night. Allemand extended his hitting streak to seven games with that hit. A sacrifice bunt by Elvis Rubio moved Allemand to second base with the tying run, but Guana retired the next two batters to close out the Rattlers.
The Timber Rattlers have scored four or less runs in a game 94 times and are 12-28 in one run games this season.
The Timber Rattlers hit the road for a three-game series against the Clinton LumberKings with game one scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Ashford University Field. Kodi Medeiros (4-4, 4.48) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The LumberKings have Eddie Campbell (2-2, 3.05) as their scheduled starter. Game time is 4:00pm.
The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 3:40pm. The broadcast is also available on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. If you are a subscriber to MiLB.TV, the game is also available on that platform.
HOME RUN:
WIS:
Jake Gatewood (3rd, 0 on in 5th inning off Heath Fillmyer, 0 out)
WP: Jonnie Massad (1-0)
LP: Gian Rizzo (0-3)
SAVE: Koby Guana (4)