Timber Rattlers Dominant, Wisconsin Blanks Cedar Rapids 10-0

Cedar Rapids, IA - Wisconsin scored five times in the top of the second inning and never looked back Saturday night, knocking off the Kernels 10-0 to snap Cedar Rapids' seven-game winning streak.

After falling in ten innings on Friday, the Wisconsin offense got going early Saturday evening. In the top of the second, a Tayden Hall solo home run put the Timber Rattlers on top 1-0. Later in the frame, Kay-Lan Nicasia walked, stole second, and scored on a Daniel Guilarte RBI single to make it 2-0. A fielder’s choice and a throwing error then allowed Guilarte to move to third and score one batter later on a wild pitch to make it 3-0. With one out, Blake Burke drove in another run with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0, before Andrick Nava dropped a single into center to plate a run to extend the lead to 5-0.

In the top of the fourth, Wisconsin added on. Jadher Areinamo singled and stole second to lead off the inning, then scored on a Burke RBI single to make it 6-0. After Eduardo Garcia doubled, Yhoshwar Garcia lifted a sacrifice fly to left to pad the lead to 7-0.

With the offense in high gear, Timber Rattlers’ starter Manuel Rodriguez hit cruise control on the mound. The Wisconsin right-hander allowed just one hit across five scoreless innings and struck out three en route to his first win of the year.

In the top of the seventh, Hall blasted his second solo home run of the game to make it 8-0, and in the eighth, Areinamo launched a two-run homer to left to make it 10-0 Timber Rattlers, the score that would be the final.

With the loss, the Kernels fall to 12-10 in the second half and have their winning streak snapped at seven games. The rubber match of the three-game series with Wisconsin is set for Sunday afternoon at 1:05 with Jose Olivares to start for the Kernels opposite Tanner Gillis.