(WNFL) GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Lake County Captains took a 6-0 lead over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Monday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium and the Rattlers couldn’t make up the difference. The Captains beat Wisconsin 6-2 to take the game and the final two games of the three-game series between the teams.
Lake County (53-47 overall, 13-17 second half) took the lead with single runs in the second and third innings. Sam Haggerty drove in a run with a two-out single in the second. Nathan Lukes made it 2-0 in favor of the Captains with an RBI double in the third.
Wisconsin (50-51, 16-15) threatened in the bottom of the fourth inning as they loaded the bases with no outs, but the Rattlers did not score in the inning against Lake County starting pitcher Brock Hartson. Troy Stokes, Jr. started the inning with a triple. Hartson hit Isan Diaz and walked Jake Gatewood to put a Rattler on every base. But, Hartson escaped with a grounder to third that turned into a force out at home and two popouts.The Captains extended their lead with four two-out runs in the top of the sixth inning to go up 6-0. Connor Marabell started the inning with a double, but was only at third base with two outs. Haggerty knocked in Marabell with a single to center. That hit also chased Wisconsin starting pitcher Jordan Yamamoto from the game. Yamamoto walked one and struck out six over 5-2/3 innings pitched, but was tagged with the loss.Rattlers reliever Quintin Torres-Costa walked the first batter he faced. Then, Anthony Miller hit a three-run homer to the beach beyond the wall in right-center and the Captains were up 6-0.Jake Gatewood got the Timber Rattlers on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth. Gatewood lined a homer to left with one out. The home run was his eleventh of the season.That was the only run allowed by Hartson in six innings on Monday. Hartson pitched around five hits, two walks, and a hit batsman to put himself in position for his seventh win of the season.Wisconsin got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Lake County bullpen as they loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning. Stokes singled, Diaz hit a ground rule double to center, and Gatewood drew a walk against Kenny Matthews. Lucas Erceg drove in Stokes with a sharp single to right against Dominic DeMasi to get the Rattlers to within 6-2. But, DeMasi escaped the jam with a strikeout and a ground out to keep the Captains up by four.DeMasi closed out the game with a perfect ninth inning for his first save of the season.Diaz moved his hitting streak to nine games with his double in the eighth inning. He is 19-for-36 (.528) during the streak. Diaz was named the Midwest League’s Player of the Weekon Monday afternoon for his performance last week. In six games from July 18-24, Diaz went 11-for-22 with two doubles, two triples, three homers, six walks, eight runs, and ten RBI.
The Timber Rattlers are off on Tuesday. They are back in action on Wednesday as they begin a seven-game road trip with game one of a series with the Clinton LumberKings at Ashford University Field. Jake Drossner (4-5, 4.32) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The LumberKings have named Ronald Dominguez (1-2, 2.72) as their starter. Game time is 6:30pm.
