Wisconsin completes the sweep in Kane County

GENEVA, IL - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers did something with a 4-1 win over the Kane County Cougars at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark that they hadn't done since 2009. The win gave Wisconsin a three game sweep of the Cougars. David Goforth allowed a run on two hits and picked up his eighth win of the season. Chadwin Stang and Cameron Garfield provided key hits for the Timber Rattlers.

Ben McMahan tripled with one out in the top of the second inning. Garfield followed with an RBI single and the Rattlers (60-42 overall, 16-17 second half) led 1-0 early.

Goforth was sharp. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. A one out infield single by Tim Ferguson in the sixth broke up the no-hit bid. The Rattlers right-hander got out of the inning when the next hitter lined into an unassisted double play on the next pitch.

Wisconsin pushed their lead to 2-0 in the top of the seventh inning. Garfield doubled to start the inning and a one out walk to Adrian Williams put runners on first and second. Stang blooped a single into right-center to score Garfield. The hit extended Stang's hitting streak to eleven games, the longest hitting streak of the season by a Timber Rattler.

Kane County (50-53, 16-17) broke through against Goforth in the bottom of the seventh inning. Dannty Mateo drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. A two-out RBI double by Michael Antonio drove in Mateo. Goforth got the final out of the inning to maintain the 2-1 lead.

Goforth left after the seventh inning. He walked two and struck out five before turning it over to the bullpen.

The Rattlers tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the ninth. Wisconsin had runners at second and third with two outs and Stang sent a grounder behind the third base bag. The ball was fielded cleanly by Antonio. Then, he turned and fired to first as his momentum carried him into foul territory. The throw to attempt to get the speedy Stang was low and bounced away from the first baseman and both runners scored on the throwing error for a 4-1 lead.

Kevin Shackelford pitched a scoreless eighth and a scoreless ninth for Wisconsin to pick up his third save of the season.

The Timber Rattlers continue their road trip with the start of a three game series at Clinton on Saturday night. Wisconsin right-hander Eric Semmelhack (0-0, 12.00) makes his first Midwest League start. The LumberKings counter with lefty Jordan Shipers (4-4, 3.76). Game time at Ashford University Field is 6:00pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 5:40pm.

WP: David Goforth (8-5)
LP: Bryan Brickhouse (2-3)
SAVE: Kevin Shackelford (3)

TIME: 2:30
ATTN: 10,133