The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and the Lake County Captains battled to a 3-3 tie through seven innings on Tuesday night at Neuroscience Group Field. The Captains scored a run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth and held on to beat the Rattlers 4-3.
The first two Timber Rattlers to bat in the bottom of the first inning reached base. Brady Ebel, the first round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2025, drew a walk in his first plate appearance as a Rattler. Cooper Pratt, on a rehab assignment from the Brewers, followed with a single. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. Eric Bitonti singled to right with two outs to score both runners for a 2-0 lead.
Rattlers starting pitcher Jacob Morrison walked Garrett Howe to start the third. Tommy Hawke singled to center to move Howe to third with Howe advancing to second on the attempt to get Howe. Morrison committed a balk to allow Howe to score but escaped the inning with the lead.
He was not as fortunate in the fourth. Jeffery Mercedes singled to start the inning. Cannon Peebles was next and he hit a home run to center to give the Captains a 3-2 lead.
Pratt stepped in with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. He tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right.
The Captains (60-51 overall, 23-24 second half) took a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth inning. Andrew Healy hit Juneiker Caceres with one out. Then, Anthony Martinez doubled to put runners on second and third. Luis De La Cruz flew out to left deep enough to score Caceres with the go-ahead run.
Ebel drew his fourth walk of the night with two outs in the seventh to bring Pratt to the plate. The Captains elected to make a pitching change with Jogly Garcia replacing Nelson Keljo on the mound. Pratt didn’t get a chance as Ebel was thrown out at second base for the final out of the inning.
Tyler Rodriguez doubled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against Zane Petty to get the tying run into scoring position. Petty got the final out on a flyout to center to snap Wisconsin’s three-game winning streak.
Pratt would leave the game after the top of the seventh. He was officially 1-for-2 with a walk, a run scored, and an RBI.
Healy set a new professional single-game high for strikeouts with seven over his four innings on Tuesday night.
Wisconsin (60-50, 26-22) went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position in the game.
Game two the series is Wednesday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field. Josh Knoth (4-3, 4.68) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Aidan Major (0-0, 4.50) is set to start for the Captains. Game time is 12:10pm.
