(WNFL) BOWLING GREEN, KY – Michael Russell scored the winning run for the Bowling Green Hot Rods on a wild pitch in the bottom of the thirteenth inning to beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-3. The Hot Rods won all three games in the series at Bowling Green Ballpark, including twice on walkoffs.
Wisconsin (44-48 overall, 10-12 second half) scored in the first inning. Troy Stokes, Jr. drew a leadoff walk to start the frame. Mitch Ghelfi continued his hot hitting with a single. Later in the inning, Stokes took third as catcher David Rodriguez lost the handle on the ball while getting it out of his mitt. Jake Gatewood got Stokes home with a slow grounder to third.That same trio worked to get the Rattlers their second run of the game. Stokes doubled with one out in the third. Ghelfi singled to put runner on the corners. Gatewood singled with two outs to score Stokes for a 2-0 lead.Bowling Green (49-41, 12-9) threatened to break through against Rattlers starting pitcher Jake Drossner in the fourth. Brett Sullivan singled and Michael Russell doubled with one out. Drossner kept the Hot Rods off the scoreboard by getting a popup and a strikeout to end the inning.The Hot Rods had an even bigger threat in the bottom of the fifth. The loaded the bases with one out on a single and two walks. But, Drossner got out of it when Rodriguez grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.Drossner would not be able to escape the sixth. Sullivan reached on an infield single and Brandon Lowe walked to start the inning. David Olmedo-Barrera dropped a bunt up the first baseline that went for a 2-3 sacrifice, but Sullivan noticed no Rattler covering home plate and he raced home to score. Kewby Meyer singled to center off reliever Scott Grist with two outs in the inning to score Lowe with the tying run.The Rattlers went back in front in the top of the seventh inning. Juan Ortiz drew a one out walk and took second on a wild pitch. Carlos Belonis drove in Ortiz with the go-ahead run with a two-out double to left-center.But, the Hot Rods tied the game in the bottom of the seventh. Lowe cracked a two-out homer to right off Wisconsin reliever Miguel Diaz to even the game 3-3.Bowling Green loaded the bases with two outs against Diaz in the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Wisconsin right-hander got a strikeout to end the inning and send the game to extra innings.Neither team threatened in the extra frames until the bottom of the thirteenth.Sullivan started the rally with a one out single against Chase Williams, the fifth Wisconsin pitcher of the night. Olmedo-Barrera followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Then, Zacrey Law drew a walk to load the bases and bring Meyer to the plate.The Timber Rattlers went to a defensive alignment with five infielders and two outfielders with Meyer at the plate, but Williams got ahead of him and the count was 1-2. The next pitch was in the dirt and caromed off Wisconsin catcher Max McDowell up the third base line in foul territory. Sullivan head for the plate as McDowell chased after the ball. Sullivan dove in head first ahead of McDowell’s attempted tag and the Hot Rods celebrated their second walkoff win of the series.This game marks the seventh time the Rattlers have lost a game in walkoff fashion in 2016. It was also the third time this year they lost a game on a walkoff wild pitch.In two of Bowling Green’s wins in the series, they did not lead the game until the winning run crossed the plate.
