MIDLAND, MI – It was a dark and rainy night at Dow Diamond on Saturday night. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers outlasted the Great Lakes Loons 11-4 in a three-hour and forty-three-minute marathon to win their third game of the series from the team with the best record in the Midwest League. Andrew Fischer had three hits, including an important two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning, and drove in three runs to lead the Rattlers 14-hit attack in a steady mist through the unseasonably cool evening.
The Loons (27-16) scored a run in the bottom of the first after there were two outs and none on base. Kole Myers doubled with two out. Wisconsin starter Ethan Dorchies walked the next two batters to load the bases and threw a wild pitch to allow Myers to score. Another walk reloaded the bases before Dorchies ended the inning with a strikeout. He would not allow another run over his next two innings before leaving the game.
The Rattlers (23-18) struck quickly in the top of the second to take the lead. Juan Baez and Tayden Hall started the inning with singles. Luiyin Alastre followed with a triple to right to drive home both runners for a 2-1 lead. Josiah Ragsdale knocked in Alastre with a single. Ragsdale would score on a wild pitch for a 4-1 lead.
A two-out error with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth inning let the Rattlers add a run to their lead.
Fischer made it 6-1 with an RBI single in the top of the fifth.
Great Lakes chipped away at that Rattler lead. Jose Meza hit a lead-off home run in the bottom of the sixth against Wisconsin reliever Jason Woodward. Myers had a two-out, RBI double in the seventh against Woodward. A walk to Meza ended Woodward’s night.
Bjorn Johnson had to come out of the bullpen for Woodward with the tying run at the plate. He struck out Victor Rodrigues on three pitches to end the inning.
Johnson gave up a lead-off single in the eighth but retired the next two batters. A walk to the number nine hitter in the Loons order brought Chuck Davalan to the plate as the tying run. Davalan, the #7 prospect in the Dodgers system, pounced on the first pitch from Johnson for a single to knock in a run to cut the Loons deficit to two runs. Emil Morales, the #5 prospect in the Dodgers system, stepped in as the go-ahead run for the Loons, but Johnson stayed composed and got the strikeout to maintain the 6-4 lead.
Wisconsin’s bats gave Johnson plenty of breathing room in the top of the ninth. Ragsdale singled with one out for his second consecutive three-hit game in the lead-off spot for the Rattlers. Fischer followed with a towering drive down the line in right for his thirteenth home run of the season and an 8-4 advantage.
Later in the ninth, Juan Baez added an RBI single for more insurance. A run-scoring passed ball, and a run-scoring wild pitch allowed the final two runs of the game to score for the Rattlers.
Johnson walked the first two batters he faced in the ninth. Then, a flyout to right and a 6-4-3 double play ended the game for his second save of the season.
Woodward, who missed the entire 2025 season with an injury, earned his first professional victory with his performance on Saturday night. He went 3-2/3 innings for the longest outing of his professional career, allowed two runs – one earned – and struck out four.
Thomas Dillard, who hit sixteen homers in 78 games during the 2021 season, holds the record the most homers hit in a season by a Wisconsin player since the Timber Rattlers moved to the High-A classification of Minor League Baseball that same season. Only Dillard, Joe Gray, Jr (15 homers in 123 games in 2022), and Hedbert Pérez (14 homers in 84 games in 2025) have hit more High-A homers as a Rattler than Fischer, who has thirteen homers in 37 games in 2026.
The series finale at Dow Diamond is Sunday afternoon and it features a rematch from game one for the pitching matchup. Wande Torres (3-2, 5.19) is the scheduled starter for the Timber Rattlers. Great Lakes has Sterling Patick (0-2, 4.89) as their starter. Game time is 12:05pm CDT.
Friday’s game: An early Wisconsin Timber Rattlers lead was washed away by the Great Lakes Loons on Friday night at Dow Diamond. Great Lakes collected fifteen hits on the way to a 13-4 victory.
Andrew Fischer gave the Timber Rattlers (22-18) a 2-0 lead three batters into the game with two-run home run to right-center. Fischer has twelve homers and thirty RBI this season.
The Loons (27-15) got a run in the bottom of the first against Josh Knoth. Chuck Davalan walked and moved to second on a ground out. Davalan would steal third and score on a throwing error on the play.
Knoth, in his first start as a Timber Rattler, pitched a scoreless second inning before leaving the game. Knoth, who missed the 2025 season with an injury, joined the Timber Rattlers on Thursday after three rehabilitation starts in the Arizona Complex League to begin his season.
Great Lakes took the lead in the bottom of the third against reliever Garrett Hughes. A two-run single by Kole Myers put the Loons up 3-2.
Wisconsin had runners at first and third with one out in the top of the fourth. Luis Castillo hit the ball hard, but the line drive was right at first baseman Jose Hernandez, who caught the ball and stepped on first to double up the runner for an inning-ending double play.
Travis Smith took over in the fourth and allowed three runs. Davalan drove in a run with a single and Jose Meza made it 6-2 with a two-out, two-run single
In the fifth, the Loons sent ten men to the plate, scored five runs, and took control of the game. Smith retired the first batter of the inning. The next three Loons reached on two singles and a walk. Then, Davalan cleared the bases with a three-run double. A single and another walk loaded the bases. Smith walked Meza to force in a run and end his night.
Jack Seppings, the Rattlers fourth pitcher of the game, took over for Smith and got the second out of the inning on a weak grounder to second that scored a run for an 11-2 Great Lakes lead.
Jose Hernandez, who had three hits and finished a triple shy of the cycle, drove in the final runs of the game for Great Lakes with two-run home run in the sixth. Seppings struck out four over the final 3-2/3 innings.
The Rattlers scored their final runs of the night on a two-run double by Josh Adamczewski in the eighth inning.
Davalan reached base four times, scored four runs, drove in four runs, and stole two bases from the lead-off spot for the Loons.
Ragsdale went 3-for-5 and scored two runs for Wisconsin. Adamczewski walked twice, stole a base, and drove in two runs.
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