Rattlers Beat Bees with Another Shutout

BURLINGTON, IA - One shutout win over the Burlington Bees wasn't enough for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Thomas Jankins and Drake Owenby pitched the Rattlers to their second straight shutout victory over the Bees at Community Field with a 6-0 decision on Friday night.

The Timber Rattlers (41-61 overall, 15-19 second half) scored first for the third straight game in the series. Trever Morrison singled and Jonathan Oquendo walked with one out. Caleb Whalen smacked a single of the glove of Juan Moreno at third base to send Morrison home and Oquendo around to third. Demi Orimoloye made it 2-0 with an RBI grounder to get Oquendo home.

Wisconsin added two runs in the third inning. Keston Hiura extended his hitting streak with the Timber Rattlers to nine games with a leadoff double and Weston Wilson walked to start the inning Mario Feliciano was next and he sent a foul pop to right that was caught. Hiura tagged to go to third and he would scramble for the plate to score when the throw was wild. Later in the inning, Ronnie Gideon drove in Wilson with a sacrifice fly and the Rattlers were up 4-0.

Hiura figured into Wisconsin's fifth run as he tripled with one out in the fifth inning. The Bees brought the infield in with Wilson at the plate. Wilson sent a grounder to the right of shortstop Artemis Kadkhodian, who made a backhanded stop and made an off-balance throw to the plate on one hop that would have been in time to get Hiura. However, the catcher missed the ball for an error and Hiura scored for a 5-0 lead.

That was more than enough for Jankins. The right-hander tossed seven shutout innings to even his record at 6-6. Jankins scattered six hits, walked one, and matched his career-high for strikeouts in a single game as a professional with seven.

Wisconsin's offense wasn't done. They added a run in the eighth inning. Wilson singled with one out and Feliciano followed with a double to left to score Wilson.

Owenby took over for Jankins to start the bottom of the eighth inning. The Bees (45-58, 14-20) got a leadoff single against Owenby in the eighth, but he would strike out the next three batters. Then, Owenby worked a 1-2-3 inning to close out Wisconsin's second straight shutout victory at Burlington. 
Wisconsin's road trip continues on Saturday with game one of a four-game series at Dozer Park against the Peoria Chiefs. Cameron Roegner (4-2, 3.88) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Rattlers. Game time is 6:30pm. The radio broadcast of the twinbill is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 6:10pm. The broadcast is also available on TuneIn Radio and IHeartRadio.