Cougars Hold Rattlers to One Hit in 3-0 Win

GENEVA, IL - Three Kane County Cougars pitchers held the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to one hit for a 3-0 victory on Friday night at Northwestern Medicine Field. The teams split the two-game series.

The Cougars (46-38 overall, 11-4 second half) broke the scoreless tie with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning against Wisconsin starting pitcher Logan Gillaspie. Zac Almond started the inning with a bloop double to right that was just fair. KeShawn Lynch followed with an infield single to the hole at short. Tra Holes was next and he drew a walk to load the bases with no outs.

Alek Thomas got the first run home with a sacrifice fly to center. Jose Herrera, who homered in Thursday's game, blooped a single to left-center to get the second run home. Gillaspie got out of the inning without further damage.

Levi Kelly was the starter for Kane County and he allowed the only Wisconsin hit, a one-out single by Jesús Lujano in the first inning. Kelly walked two, hit a batter, and struck out four over six scoreless innings before turning the game over to the Kane County bullpen.

The Cougars hitters added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Thomas drew a walk on four pitches with two outs against reliever Wilfred Salaman. Herrera was next and he smacked the first pitch of his at bat to the gap in left-center for an RBI double and a 3-0 lead.
Wisconsin (40-44, 9-6) rallied for three runs in the ninth inning for a comeback victory over Kane County on Thursday night. They had no such luck against the Cougars bullpen on Friday night. Ryan Kelly hit a batter and walked a batter in the seventh inning, but allowed no hits over two innings. Kai-Wei Lin walked a batter in the ninth, but closed out the game for his fourth save of the season.

The Timber Rattlers may have only had one hit, but they drew four walks and had two batters hit by pitches for seven base runners. They could not do anything with those runners and suffered their second shutout in the last three games. Wisconsin had been shut out by Quad Cities on two hits in a 2-0 loss on Wednesday night.
The Timber Rattlers return to Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium to host the Beloit Snappers in a three-game series. Game one of the series is Saturday night. Justin Jarvis (2-1, 3.89) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Beloit has announced Reid Birlingmair (2-5, 5.64) as their starter. First pitch is 6:35pm.
The first 500 fans to attend this game will receive a magnet featuring Timber Rattlers All-Star infielder and Milwaukee Brewers prospect Brice Turang courtesy of Lamers Bus Lines. This is the first in a series of four player magnets to be given away this season.

There will good vibes and good music for Margaritaville Night throughout the evening. Enjoy the postgame fireworks presented by Tundraland. The Boat Drunks will be playing for Parrotheads after the fireworks. Children 14 and under may run the bases after the fireworks courtesy of Meijer as part of a North Shore Bank Family Day with WIXX.
If you can't make it out to the game, there are several ways to follow the action. Saturday's game will be televised on CW-14 in Northeastern Wisconsin and on My-24 in Southeastern Wisconsin starting at 6:30pm. 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.