The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Beloit Snappers sent the crowd at Pohlman Field into Independence Day with several bangs on Saturday night. Both teams hit three home runs in a single inning, but the Timber Rattlers had one more big inning in them and it was enough for a 12-9 victory.
Garrett Mitchell and Thomas Dillard teamed up to put the Rattlers (24-28) up 1-0 in the top of the first inning. Mitchell stepped to the plate with two outs and sent a grounder up the middle. He did not settle for a single and successfully stretched the hit into a double. Dillard was next and he ripped a 3-2 pitch down the line in right. The ball one-hopped the wall and Mitchell scored easily on the double by Dillard.
Wisconsin added to their lead in the top of the fourth and Mitchell started the rally again. He singled to lead off the inning. One out later Hayden Cantrelle walked. The runners will still at first and second with two outs. Then, Carlos Rodríguez and Nick Kahle delivered consecutive RBI singles and it was 3-0 Wisconsin.
The Rattlers poured on the offense in the fifth inning with three homers accounting for five runs to make it 8-0. David Hamilton cracked a lead-off homer to right-center. Mitchell drew a walk with one out and Dillard followed with a long home run to right-center. Hayden Cantrelle restarted the rally when he drew a walk. LG Castillo continued his hot hitting with a line drive home run down the line in right.
Hamilton’s homer was his fifth of the season. Dillard’s was his eighth of the year. Castillo’s was his third of the season and all three of his home runs have come in the series at Beloit as he has extended his hitting streak to nine games.
The Snappers (26-27) got to Wisconsin starting pitcher Justin Bullock with a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth inning. Griffin Conine drove in the first run with a two-out single. Will Banfield followed with a two-run double to left. Bullock got the final out on his seventh strikeout of the game.
The Timber Rattlers batters went back to work in the top of the seventh. Mitchell started the rally – again – with a lead-off single. At this point he had reached base in seven straight plate appearances. Mitchell had reached in his final three plate appearances on Friday night with two walks and a triple. He continued that trend on Saturday night by reaching in his first four plate appearances. Dillard followed with a single. Castillo drove a double to the gap in right-center to score Mitchell. A walk to Rodríguez loaded the bases and a double by Kahle unloaded the bases to put the Rattlers up 12-3. Those extra runs would come in handy later in the game. Brady Schanuel worked two scoreless innings out of the bullpen and turned the 12-3 lead over to John LaRossa in the bottom of the ninth.
Thomas Jones started the ninth with a double, moved to third on a flyout to right, and scored on a grounder off the bat of Marcos Rivera. The Rattlers were still up 12-4 with two outs and nobody on base. LaRossa walked number nine batter Ricky Aracena and things got very interesting before the end.
Connor Scott hit a two-run home run. Kameron Misner followed with a solo homer. Troy Johnston doubled. Conine, the league leader in homers, hit a home run to left-center and all of a sudden the Rattlers lead was down to 12-9. The home run was the 17th of the season for Conine and his fourth in five games against Wisconsin. Nash Walters came into the game from the Wisconsin bullpen and struck out Banfield to end the game and pick up his second save.
That last home run by Conine pushed him just ahead of Dillard in the High-A Central League RBI race. Both hitters had three RBI in the game and Conine is the league leader with 46 while Dillard is next with 45.
The final game of the series is Sunday afternoon at Pohlman Field. Sunday is also the final time the Timber Rattlers play the Snappers at Pohlman Field. When Wisconsin returns to Beloit to face the Snappers on August 3, the Snappers will host their first game at new ABC Supply Stadium. Freisis Adames (2-1, 6.21) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin on July 4. Zach McCambley (2-3, 2.95) has been named as the starting pitcher for the Snappers. Game time on Independence Day afternoon is 2:05pm. The radio broadcast is on AM 1280 WNAM starting with the pregame show at 1:45pm.
