Wild Game Goes to Bees

GRAND CHUTE, WI - In a game with a little bit of everything, the Burlington Bees outlasted the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 10-9 in twelve innings on Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Rattlers rallied to tie the game twice, including once in the eleventh inning, but the Bees scored five runs in the top of the twelfth inning and they managed to hold off the Rattlers in the bottom of the twelfth to secure the victory.

Burlington (38-48 overall, 7-10 second half) took the lead in the top of the first inning on a couple of fortunate bounces. Jahmai Jones reached second on an error to start the game. Then, Jordan Zimmerman's grounder up the middle hit the second base bag and deflected into the outfield to allow Jones to score.

The Bees added to their lead in the second against Wisconsin starter Josh Pennington, who retired the first two batters he faced in the inning. A walk, a single, and another walk loaded the bases. Jones was at the plate again and his hot grounder to short was misplayed for an error to allow two runs to score.

Wisconsin (33-52, 7-10) rallied for a run in the bottom of the third inning. Ryan Aguilar scored from third on a wild pitch with two outs to pull the Rattlers to within two runs.

Burlington added to their lead in the seventh inning against reliever Zack Brown. Derek Jenkins doubled to start the inning. He went to third on a sacrifice bunt. Zimmerman drove in Brown with a sacrifice fly and the Bees were up 4-1.

The Timber Rattlers loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and managed to tie the game. Trever Morrison walked, Gilbert Lara singled, and Aguilar walked to start the inning against Burlington reliever Ronnie Glenn. Devin Hairston drove in Morrison with a fly to center that was deep enough to advance all three runners. Carlos Belonis knocked in Lara with a grounder that also moved Aguilar to third base. Weston Wilson completed the comeback with a two-out single to left.
In the top of the tenth, Burlington's Jahmai Jones singled to start the inning against reliever Parker Berberet. He stole second and went to third on an errant throw. But, Berberet stranded him at third with a pair strikeouts and a ground out to keep the game tied.

The Rattlers were not as fortunate in the eleventh. Richie Fecteau was at first with two outs when Artemis Kadkhodaian lined a single to left-center. Aguilar, the center fielder came over to field the ball, but so did left fielder Demi Orimoloye, who collided with Aguilar and knocked him down to allow Fecteau to score the go-ahead run.

The Bees were out of relievers and had to turn to infielder Juan Moreno, who went 2-for-3 and drove in the go-ahead run in Burlington's 4-3 win on Friday night against the Rattlers. Moreno got the first out, but gave up a high, towering fly to left off the bat of Mario Feliciano that just cleared the wall for a game-tying home run.

Later in the eleventh, Morrison walks and Moreno balked to put the winning run in scoring position, but the Rattlers couldn't get him home.

Jones started the top of the twelfth with a bunt single. Zimmerman was next and he tripled to center to put the Bees up 6-5. Berberet got the next two outs on a grounder and a play at the plate and the Bees had two outs with a runner at first. Then, they collected four straight singles to expand their lead to 10-5. John Schuknecht and Fecteau each had RBI singles. Kadkhodaian had a two-run single after and error on Fecteau's single put two runners in scoring position.

The Rattlers fought back against Moreno, who walked the first three batters he faced in the bottom of the twelfth. Wilson lined a three-run double to left-center to score all three walks and the Rattlers were within two.

Moreno got the next two outs, before Orimoloye singled to drive in Wilson to make it a one-run game. 

Orimoloye got into scoring positon with a stolen base, but he was stranded as Moreno got the final out on a popup.
The Bees have won seven straight games against the Timber Rattlers. Wisconsin is 2-9 against Burlington this season.
The series continues on Sunday afternoon. Drake Owenby is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers and will make his first Midwest League start of the season. Nate Bertness (3-7, 5.83) is set to start for the Bees. Game time is 1:05pm.
The first 1,000 fans to attend this game will receive a full-sized bat courtesy of Ripon College and Bergstrom Automotive and Daniel Tiger is visiting the ballpark for you to meet him before and during the game with Wisconsin Public Television.

Timber Rattlers players and coaches will wear their Brewers-themed jerseys during the game as part of Brewers Sunday with Rasmussen College and Star 98. Fans may play catch on-field courtesy of Rasmussen College starting at noon. Players will be available for a postgame autograph session sponsored by Tundraland.
If you can't make it out to the game, the radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 12:45pm. The broadcast is also available on TuneIn Radio, IHeartRadio, and MiLB.tv.