Wisconsin wins in extra innings at Beloit

BELOIT, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had fifteen hits on Saturday night at Pohlman Field, but scored the winning run on an error in the tenth inning by the Beloit Snappers defense. The Rattlers topped Beloit 4-3 and are now 3-2 in five games that have gone to extra innings this season.

Beloit (32-36) grabbed the early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Justin Higley started the frame with a double. One out later, Trent Gilbert doubled to drive in Higley. Later in the inning, Ryan Howell singled to get Gilbert home for a 2-0 lead.

The Rattlers (33-36) answered in the top of the third. Troy Stokes, Jr. doubled high off the wall in center to start the inning. Isan Diaz doubled with two outs to drive in Stokes with Wisconsin's first run. The double by Diaz moved his current hitting streak to nine games.

Wisconsin took the lead in the top of the fourth. Jake Gatewood singled to start the inning. Mitch Ghelfi ripped a double into the corner in right on a 3-2 and Gatewood, who was running on the pitch, scored to tie the game. Max McDowell would reach on an infield single and steal second base to put runners at second and third with no outs. Sthervin Matos hit a hard grounder to a diving back-handed stab by Edwin Diaz at third. The only play for Diaz was first base and Ghelfi scored the go-ahead run on the RBI ground out.

Jordan Yamamoto, the Timber Rattlers starting pitcher, retired thirteen Snappers in a row after the RBI single by Howell in the first inning. But, he ran into trouble to start the sixth. Michael Martin reached on an infield single and took second on a balk. A wild pitch on ball four to Gilbert allowed Martin to take third base. Yamamoto got Michael Soto to ground into a 6-4-3 double play for two outs, but Martin scored the tying run.

The Snappers threated in the bottom of the seventh. Howell walked to start the inning, but was thrown out trying to steal second base. Back-to-back singles by Jordan Devencenzi and Jesus Lopez chased Yamamoto from the game. Nate Griep came out of the Wisconsin bullpen and walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. However, Griep came back to strike out the next two batters end the inning with the game tied.

Devin Williams, the third Wisconsin pitcher of the night, retired the Snappers in order in the eighth and ninth to send the game to the tenth.

David Denson started the game-winning rally with a one-out single against Jared Lyons, the fourth Beloit pitcher of the game, in the tenth. Gatewood followed with a single, his third hit of the night, to send Denson around to third base. Denson was replaced by pinch-runner Carlos Belonis.

Lyons got the second out of the inning with a strike out. McDowell, who extended his hitting streak to ten games with a pair of hits earlier in the night, was next and worked the count full before sending a grounder to third that was misplayed for an error to allow Belonis to score the go-ahead run. The error was the only one of the night committed by either team.

Williams tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth to close out the Snappers.

The Timber Rattlers are 5-4 in the first nine games of their current ten-game road trip after the victory.

The final game of the first half is Sunday afternoon at Pohlman Field. The Timber Rattlers have scheduled Marcos Diplan (5-1, 2.05) as the starting pitcher. Beloit has named Dustin Hurlbutt (0-0, 2.45) as their starter. Game time is 2:00pm.

The radio broadcast is on 1280 AM, WNAM starting with the pregame show at 1:40pm. The game is also available on the internet through IHeartRadio and TuneIn.