(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) GRAND CHUTE, WI – Eric Bitonti had been quiet over the last few days…too quiet and that was bad news for the Beloit Sky Carp. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers infielder bashed two homers, drove in three runs, and scored four runs in the Rattlers 14-4 victory over the Sky Carp on Wednesday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field.
The Timber Rattlers (46-32 overall, 12-4 second half) wasted little time to take the lead. Marco Dinges started the bottom of the first with a single. Bitonti followed with a homer to left for the 2-0 advantage. Bitonti had been 1-for-13 with a single and seven strikeouts in his last three games before that blast.
Beloit (38-43, 11-5) got a run in the top of the third. Colby Shade doubled to start the inning but was a third with two outs and a 1-2 count on Starlyn Caba. Wisconsin starting pitcher Daniel Corniel threw a wild pitch on the next offering to allow Shade to score.
Shade and the Sky Carp manufactured the tying run in the top of the fifth against reliever Tanner Perry. Shade singled and stole second. Cam Clayton moved Shade to third with a grounder to the right side of the infield. Abrahan Ramirez drove in Shade with an RBI grounder to even the score.
Beloit took the lead in the sixth inning. Dillon Head walked and Carter Johnson doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. Carlos Sanchez sent a flyball to left that was deep enough to score Head with the go-ahead run.
The Timber Rattlers responded immediately after the stretch. Bitonti and Daniel Dickinson singled to start the inning. Tayden Hall ripped a single to right that was missed by Jacob Jenkins-Cowart. Hall wound up Bitonti and Dickinson raced around to score and put the Rattlers back in front 4-3.
That was just the start.
Tyler Rodriguez ripped an RBI double to left and Daniel Guilarte served an RBI triple down the line in right. Guilarte would score on a wild pitch for a 7-3 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Bitonti cracked a lead-off homer. He has fourteen homers this season, with five of them in sixteen games during the second half of the season.
Hall launched a solo homer with one out in the seventh to pad the lead.
The Rattlers put the game away with five more runs in the eighth. Blayberg Diaz scored the first run of the inning on a wild pitch. Dickinson homered to center, a three-run shot and Wisconsin’s fourth home run of the game, to make it 13-3. Guilarte added a sacrifice fly for the final run of the game.
The Timber Rattlers have hit 105 home runs in 78 games this season. The franchise record for homers in a season was set by the 2021 Rattlers, who hit 117 home runs in 119 games.
Perry pitched a scoreless seventh and a scoreless eighth as he settled down with the big lead. Yerlin Rodriguez pitched the ninth and gave up a two-out RBI double to Ramirez before getting the final out of the game.
Wisconsin’s win put them back in first place in the second half West Division standings by one game over the second place Sky Carp.
Game three of the series is Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Wande Torres (6-5, 4.90) has been named as the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Carson Laws (1-5, 6.96) is set to start for the Sky Carp. Game time is 6:40pm.
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