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Rattlers swat Bees

Pierce K's eight; McMahan delivers two-run triple to break tie
July 31, 2012
GRAND CHUTE, WI - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers pitcher Chad Pierce is enjoying his time in the rotation. Pierce struck out eight Burlington Bees batters on Tuesday evening at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium and picked up his fifth win of the season. Wisconsin rallied from an early deficit with four runs in the fifth inning to defeat Burlington 5-3.

Burlington (52-54 overall, 20-17 second half) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Bobby Crocker doubled with one out, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Rashun Dixon.

Crocker and Dixon struck again in the third inning. Crocker singled with two outs. Dixon followed with a two-run homer to left and the Bees were up 3-0. That would be all the runs the Bees would get in the game.

Wisconsin (63-43, 19-18) got a run back in the bottom of the third. Both Yadiel Rivera and Chadwin Stang singled to start the inning. A sacrifice bunt by Lance Roenicke moved both runners into scoring position. Brandon Macias sent home Rivera with a sacrifice fly for the first Rattlers run.

The Rattlers charged in front with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Rafael Neda started the inning with a double and Rivera drew a walk. Roenicke drove in Neda with a one out single to left field. Macias followed with a single to center to send Rivera home with the tying run.

McMahan was next and his triple to the wall scored two for a 5-3 lead. The triple was the eighth of the season for McMahan.

Pierce took over from there. The right-hander kept the Bees off the scoreboard and carried that lead to the ninth. He matched his single game high for strikeouts as a professional with eight. He walked one and scattered seven hits to earn his fifth win of the season. Pierce is 3-1 in six games since joining the Rattlers starting rotation on June 28. He has struck out eight in each of his last two starts.

Michael Strong got the final three outs for his second save of the season.

Game two of the four game homestand is Wednesday night. David Goforth (8-5, 4.88) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Burlington has Drew Granier (11-6, 3.01) as their scheduled starter. Game time is 7:05pm.

Wednesday night is Salute to Toilet Paper Night. Products from Kimberly Clark will be on display near the main entrance and the first 1,000 fans to attend the game will receive travel packs of Kleenex. The Paper Discovery Center will also have a display on the main concourse that includes making origami and Papier-mâché baseballs. There will be a toilet paper theme to on-field promotions and contests throughout the game, too.

Wednesday night is also a 105.7 WAPL Bang for Your Buck Night with $1 Cher-Make hot dogs, $1 Pepsi Products, and $1 Miller Beers. The first 1,000 fans to attend the game will receive a baseball cap from 105.7 WAPL.

If you can't make it out to the game, you can catch the action several ways. Sports32 will broadcast the game to subscribers of Time Warner Cable. The radio broadcast can be heard on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. The game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV.

WP: Chad Pierce (5-3)
LP: Chris Lamb (0-1)
SAVE: Michael Strong (2)

TIME: 2:34
ATTN: 2,342