The Lake County Captains built another early lead and held off multiple late rallies from the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to beat Wisconsin 8-4 Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field.
There was a late start to the game with rain and threatening weather delaying the start of the game one hour and twenty-one minutes until 8:21pm.
Lake County (62-52 overall, 25-25 second half) scored in the first inning for the second game in a row. Welbyn Francisca walked with one out. Anthony Martinez doubled to the corner in right to drive Francisca home for the 1-0 lead.
The Captains expanded the lead in the third inning with four runs on four hits. Tommy Hawke started the rally with a double. Martinez knocked in Hawke with a one-out single. Wisconsin starting pitcher Daniel Corniel walked the next batter before he gave up an RBI double to Jeffery Mercedes and a two-out, two-run single to Jose Pirela to see the Rattlers deficit grow to 5-0.
Wisconsin (61-52, 27-24) stole a run in the bottom of the fourth. Sawyer Strosnider singled, stole second, and went to third on a single by Eric Bitonti. Bitonti stole second and drew a throw. A missed catch by Francisca at second allowed the ball to trickle to the outfield and Strosnider to score. Lake County starting Pitcher Jackson Humphries struck out the next three batters to stop that rally in its tracks.
Wande Torres, who replaced Corniel to start the top of the fourth, loaded the bases on two hit batsmen and a single in the fifth. Torres nearly got out of the inning but a two-out passed ball allowed a run to score to start a pattern of Wisconsin getting a run and the Captains answering in their next at bat.
The Rattlers chipped away again in the bottom of the fifth. Brady Ebel turned a single to center into a double with two outs. Daniel Dickinson followed with a triple right to score Ebel.
Another unearned run for the Captains scored in the top of the sixth. They loaded the based with one out on an error, a single, and a walk. Cannon Peebles singled to knock in the run to make it 7-2.
Luis Flores, Lake County’s third pitcher of the game, let the Rattlers get closer again in the bottom of the seventh as he walked four, including a bases-loaded walk to Dickinson. A wild pitch let in another run and the Rattlers were down 7-4.
Lake County responded in the top of the eighth against Tanner Perry. Francisca singled and stole second to start the inning. Peebles doubled and the score was 8-4 when Francisca crossed the plate.
The Timber Rattlers had threats in both the eighth and ninth innings against Jogly Garcia. In the eighth, Tayden Hall doubled and Tyler Rodriguez drew a one-out walk. Garcia struck out the next two batters,
In the ninth, Wisconsin loaded the bases with one out. Dickinson singled with Strosnider and Bitonti drawing walks to bring the tying run to the plate. Garcia would close out the game with a strikeout and a flyout to center as the Captains take a 3-1 lead in the series with two games remaining in the set.
Dickinson, who went 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBI, made some history in Friday’s game. He stole two bases in the first inning to give him fifty on the season. Dickinson is only the third Timber Rattlers player to steal fifty or more bases in a season. Ramon Valera stole 52 bases in 1998. Pedro Liriano set the current single-season stolen base record for the Rattlers with 65 in 2001.
The Timber Rattlers stranded eleven runners and were 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position in Friday’s game.
Game five of the series is Saturday night. It features a pitching matchup of Jayden Dubanewicz (3-4, 5.11) on the mound for the Timber Rattlers against Jacob Zibin (3-2, 3.02) for the Captains. Game time is 6:40pm CDT.
