South Bend sweeps Wisconsin with 12-3 decision
GRAND CHUTE, WI - Brandon Drury went 5-for-6 to lead the South Bend Silver Hawks to a 12-3 rout of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Tuesday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The 17-hit attack gave South Bend a win and their first ever sweep at Wisconsin.
South Bend (16-6) scored first for the third straight game in the series. Socrates Brito scored from third on a wild pitch.
The Silver Hawks added to their lead in the top of the fourth. Fidel Pena singled to drive in two runs for a 3-0 advantage.
Wisconsin (5-13) had South Bend starter Jesse Darrah on the ropes in the bottom of the fifth inning. Adam Giacalone singled and Orlando Arcia walked to start the inning and the top of the order was due to hit. Tyrone Taylor bunted the runners over to scoring position for Michael Reed, who had extended his hitting streak to seven games with a first inning double. Reed sent a smash down the third base line that looked like a two-run double. However, Drury made a diving back-handed stab and clean stop of the ball. Then, Drury threw home to get Giacalone for the second out. Darrah got a strikeout - his sixth of the game - to end the Rattlers threat.
Wisconsin reliever Eric Semmelhackwas not as lucky as Darrah. In the top of the sixth, the leadoff batter reached on an error. Semmelhack would get a grounder, but the Rattlers defense could only get the lead runner and were unable to turn the double play. Drury was next and he had two consecutive wind-blown pop-ups drop in foul territory behind Wisconsin defenders. Drury made the Rattlers pay with an RBI double. He would score later in the inning on a single by Brito for a 5-0 South Bend lead.
Darrah pitched six shutout innings and struck out eight while walking four, hitting one, and allowing three hits for the Silver Hawks. The Rattlers staged a rally once Darrah left the game.
It was the bottom of the order that got the Rattlers going again in the bottom of the seventh. Both Giacalone and Arcia were hit by Will Locante to start the inning. Taylor singled to center to drive in Giacalone and an errant throw to third allowed Arcia to score and Taylor to take third base. An error on a grounder off the bat of Reed allowed Taylor to score and Wisconsin was within 5-3. But, they could not push another run across the plate.
Meanwhile, South Bend pushed a lot more runs over the plate. Drury homered over the batter's eye in center with two outs in the top of the eighth inning to make it 6-3. Then, the Silver Hawks sent eleven men to the plate in the top of the ninth. The scored six runs on two walks, five hits, and another Wisconsin error. The outburst in the eighth put the Hawks up by the final score of 12-3.
Taylor was the only Timber Rattlers batter to have a multi-hit game as he had two.
The Timber Rattlers are off on Wednesday. They begin a six-game road trip with a doubleheader on Thursday at Lansing. Game time for the first game of the twinbill is 4:05pm CDT.
HOME RUN:
SB:
Brandon Drury (3rd, 0 on in 8th inning off Eric Semmelhack, 2 out)
WP: Jesse Darrah (2-1)
LP: Preston Gainey (0-3)
TIME: 3:22
ATTN: 1,001