Peoria powers past Wisconsin

PEORIA, IL - The Peoria Chiefs hit four home runs on Sunday afternoon at Chiefs Stadium on their way to a 7-2 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.  Pat Wisdom hit two of Peoria's four homers and drove in four runs to earn a split in the season-opening four game series for the Chiefs.

Peoria (2-2) pounced on Rattlers starting pitcher Jorge Lopez for four runs in the first inning.  A walk and a single put the first two Peoria runners on base.  Wisdom followed with a tape-measure homer to left that put the Chiefs up 3-0.  Jacob Wilson was next and he also unloaded for a homer.

The Chiefs added a run in the second on a two-out RBI single by Breyvic Valera and a run in the third on a two-out solo home run by Alex Mejia to go up 6-0.

Wisconsin (2-2) got to Peoria starting pitcher Kyle Helisek in the sixth inning.  Mitch Haniger tripled with one out and would score on a wild pitch.  Helisek left the game with one out and runners on first and second base.  Joe Scanio took over on the mound and struck out the next two batters on a total of six pitches.

Clint Coulter gave the Rattlers their second run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth inning to drive in Orlando Arcia.

Haniger and Michael Reed each had a pair of hits for the Timber Rattlers.  Arcia and Tyrone Taylor both had singles to extend their early season hitting streaks to four games each.

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers open renovated Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium Monday night.  The Rattlers host the Cedar Rapids Kernels in game one of a three game series with a first pitch scheduled for 6:35pm.  Right-hander Preston Gainey takes the hill as the starting pitcher for Wisconsin.  Lefty David Hurlbut is set to start for Cedar Rapids.

All fans who attend Monday's game will receive a Matt Erickson bobblehead courtesy of Pepsi.  The bobblehead depicts the Timber Rattlers manager holding the Midwest League Championship trophy.  Milwaukee Brewers mascot Bernie Brewer will also be on hand to help the Rattlers celebrate their home opener.

If you can't make it out to the ballpark, there are plenty of ways to follow the action.  Time Warner Cable subscribers will be able to watch the broadcast on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.  The game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV.

Fans may also tune in for the radio call on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm.

HOME RUNS:

PEO:
Patrick Wisdom (1^st, 2 on in 1^st inning off Jorge Lopez, 0 out)
Jacob Wilson (1^st, 0 on in 1^st inning off Jorge Lopez, 0 out)
Alex Mejia (1^st, 0 on in 3^rd inning off Jorge Lopez, 2 out)
Patrick Wisdom (2^nd, 0 on in 6^th inning off Ryan Gibbard, 0 out)

WP: Kyle Helisek (1-0)
LP: Jorge Lopez (0-1)

TIME: 2:14
ATTN: 1,459