Wisconsin Closes Out Captains to Win Series

GRAND CHUTE, WI - Gabriel García drove in David Fry with a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to snap a 2-2 tie with the Lake County Captains on Saturday at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Rattlers went on to score an insurance run in the eighth for a 4-2 victory in the game. The win allowed the Rattlers to take two of the three games in the series with the Captains.
Wisconsin (15-18) took the lead in the third inning. Brent Díaz doubled to start the frame. Connor McVey singled with one out and Yeison Coca followed with a walk to load the bases. Fry drove in Díaz with a sacrifice fly to center and the Rattlers were up 1-0.

Lake County (19-15) responded in the top of the fourth. Jesse Berardi singled with two outs to drive in Tyler Freeman from second base to even the score.

The Timber Rattlers went back in front in the bottom of the fourth. Antonio Piñero scored from third on a two-out wild pitch by Lake County starting pitcher Raymond Burgos.

Miguel Jerez tied the game again with a lead-off home run in the top of the fifth inning. The homer was the first of the year for Jerez.

There were two outs and none on in the bottom of the seventh inning when Fry doubled to extend the inning. The two-base hit was the fifteenth of the season for Fry. García was next and he ripped a single past Freeman at short to chase Fry home with the go-ahead run.

McVey added the insurance run in the eighth inning with his third hit of the game, a two-out double to left to score pinch-runner Jesús Lujano from second base.

Max Lazar picked up the win for the Rattlers with four innings of scoreless relief. Lazar, who was on the back end of the scheduled tandem with starting pitcher Reese Olson, entered in the sixth inning and allowed three hits with no walks with eight strikeouts over his four innings of work. The right-hander matched his single-game high as a pro for strikeouts with his performance on Saturday.

In his seven appearances this season, Lazar was walked eight and struck out 43 in just 28 innings pitched.

The Timber Rattlers are off on Sunday. They return to action on Monday with the first game of a three-game series against the Kane County Cougars at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Scotty Sunitsch (2-4, 3.12) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Jackson Goddard (2-1, 1.45) is set to start for the Cougars. Game time is 6:35pm.

Monday is Local Heroes Night at the ballpark.  The Rattlers are offering a special $1 reserved bleacher seat ticket offer to all police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, active or retired military members, and other emergency services personnel as part of the evening. 

Area departments will have squad cars and tactical vehicles on display in the parking lot and you may check them out on your way into the stadium. There will be an on-field induction ceremony for area Army recruits at 6:10pm and Pat Pederson of the Neenah Police Department will sing the National Anthem before the game. 

Members of Paw Patrol will be on hand for this game to meet their fans, too.

Two dollars of every ticket purchased online for this game with the promocode "BeALight" will be donated to the Lights of Christmas Foundation to assist area police departments to reach those in need during the Christmas season.

Stop at a Qdoba location in Appleton, Neenah, or Oshkosh for lunch on Monday and purchase an entrée. You will receive a free ticket to this game from the Rattles, Qdoba, and NASH-FM as part of Qdoba Q*Monday.

If you can't make it out to the game, you can still catch all the action. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and the TuneIn Radio app starting with the Papa John's Pizza Pregame Show at 6:15pm. MiLB.tv subscribers can watch the game over the internet.