BELOIT, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers held off a pair of late-game rallies from the Beloit Sky Carp to pick up a 3-2 victory Saturday night at ABC Supply Stadium. The Sky Carp outhit Wisconsin 10-5 in the game, but Beloit was just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Tayden Hall gave the Timber Rattlers (61-33, 19-9) the lead with a no-doubt home run to right-center with one out in the top of the third. The solo shot was Hall’s second home run of the season.
Beloit (45-47, 15-14) tied the game in the bottom of the third. Mark Coley reached on an infield single and went to third on a single by Johnny Olmstead. Wisconsin starting pitcher Tate Kuehner got Josh Zamora to ground into a 5-4-3 double play for two outs with Coley scoring on the play to even the score.
The Sky Carp had runners at first and second with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Kuehner escaped with back-to-back strikeouts. Kuehner struck out eight to match his single-game high as a professional. He would also leave after four innings with 72 pitches under his belt.
Wisconsin went back in front in the top of the fifth inning with a two-out rally against Beloit starter Emmett Olson, who had retired fourteen of the first fifteen batters he faced. Jesús Chirinos drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to extend the inning. Hall followed with a single to left. Then, Eduarqui Fernández doubled to left to score both runners for a 3-1 lead. Fernández was 1-for-11 in the series prior two his two-run double.
Chase Costello relieved Kuehner and tossed a perfect fifth inning before turning the game over to Brian Fitzpatrick.
The left-handed Fitzpatrick, who was pitching for the first time since July 10, worked a scoreless sixth and a scoreless seventh. In the eighth, he would give up a double and a walk to the first two batters. Fitzpatrick left the game after getting the first out of the inning on a flyball to right.
Aaron Rund took over on the mound and shattered Jorge Caballero’s bat into several pieces. However, Caballero reached on an infield single to load the bases. Rund got the next batter, Torin Montgomery, to hit a tailor-made double play ball to Eduardo Garcia at short. However, a bobble by Garcia led to only getting the force out at second base as Montgomery beat the throw to first for a run-scoring fielder’s choice to cut Wisconsin’s lead to one and put the tying run at third base.
Rund responded by striking out Jake DeLeo to end the eighth.
In the bottom of the ninth, Rund retired the first two batters. Coley, who had a walkoff, solo homer to beat Wisconsin on Friday night, gave the 3,150 in attendance hope with a triple to the gap in left-center. Rund took that hope away as he got Olmstead to send a routine grounder to short. Garcia handled this one easily and threw on target to first to get Olmstead and end the game.
Wisconsin holds a 3-2 edge in this series and are 12-5 against the Sky Carp on the season heading into the final meeting of the regular season between the teams on Sunday at ABC Supply Stadium
First pitch on Sunday is set for 1:05pm CDT with Will Rudy (3-6, 4.91) set as the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Cade Gibson (2-2, 2.77) has been named as the starter for Beloit.
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