Rattlers Celebrate Return Home with Walkoff Win

GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers returned home after a two-week road trip to Iowa and gave the home fans plenty to cheer in an 8-7, ten-inning victory over the Beloit Snappers on Tuesday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Ashton McGee drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the tenth.

Click here for the boxscore of this game

Beloit (48-55) scored two quick runs in the first inning. The first two batters of the game doubled and singled. Troy Johnston drove in the first run of the game with a double to left. Jan Mercado had an RBI fielder’s choice to score the second run of the inning.

Wisconsin (48-54) responded in the bottom of the second. Zavier Warren started the inning with a single. Joe Gray Jr. and McGee both walked to load the bases. Freddy Zamora was next and he lined a single to right to score both Warren and Gray to tie the game 2-2.

The Snappers took the lead again with three runs in the top of the fourth. Ricky Aracena tripled to knock in the first run. Connor Scott had a sacrifice fly to score Aracena. Johnston drove in the final run of the inning with a two-out, RBI single.

Gray pulled the Rattlers a little closer with a 429-foot homer to left in the bottom of the fourth inning. The home run was Gray’s eighth with Wisconsin and his twentieth of the season between Carolina and the Rattlers.

The Timber Rattlers rallied with two outs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game. Sal Frelick, the #1 pick of the Brewers in the 2021 draft, singled to center. Felix Valerio followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Joey Wiemer punched a single to right to score Frelick and send Valerio to third. A wild pitch allowed Valerio to score the tying runs.

Beloit committed an error with one out in the bottom of the sixth to let McGee reach base. Zamora ripped a double to left that put runners at second and third. Nick Kahle put the Rattlers into the lead for the first time in the game with a single through the drawn-in infield. Carlos Rodríguez followed with a single to left to score Zamora for a 7-5 lead.

Mercado hit a lead-off homer in the top of the eighth for the Snappers to cut Wisconsin’s advantage to one run.

The Snappers rallied to tie the game in the top of the ninth. Scott doubled with one out against Cam Robinson. Tevin Mitchell was next and he sent a weak grounder up the third base line. Robinson fielded the ball cleanly but threw wildly to first and that allowed Scott to score the tying run.

As fate would have it, the Snappers had a runner at second with one out in the top of the tenth and Robinson had to field two similar grounders to the ball Mitchell hit in the ninth. The reliever made both plays with perfect throws to first to keep the game tied.

The bottom of the tenth didn’t last long. Gray started the inning at second base and took third on a wild pitch early in McGee’s plate appearance. McGee collected the walkoff RBI with a deep sacrifice fly to the track in left as Gray tagged and easily scored the winning run.

Frelick was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored in five plate appearances in his debut as a Timber Rattler.

Game two of the series is Wednesday night. Brandon Knarr (1-0, 3.12) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Beloit has named Dax Fulton (0-1, 4.00) as their starting pitcher. Game time is 6:35pm.

Magnet #4 in the 2021 Player Magnet Series from Lamers Bus Lines features Timber Rattlers outfielder Carlos Rodríguez and will be available to the first 500 fans to attend Wednesday’s game. This is a Bark in the Park game presented by Fox Valley Humane Association, Fleet Farm, and WVBO, too. Fans can bring their pups to the ballpark with a seat on the left field berm.Click here for details on how to bring your canine out to the game.

If you can’t make it out to the ballpark, the radio broadcast is on AM 1280 WNAM and on internet audio with the pregame show at 6:15pm. The game is also available on MiLB.tv.