McClanahan’s Tenth-Inning Blast Paces Wisconsin Past the Loons

MIDLAND, MI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers held off a hard-charging and valiant Great Lakes Loons ballclub on Saturday night at Dow Diamond. The Loons scored all six of their runs with two outs, including a run to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. Chad McClanahan provided the difference in the contest with a three-run home run in the top of the tenth and Wisconsin held on for an 8-6 victory.

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The Timber Rattlers (58-60) took the lead with a two-out rally in the top of the second. Great Lakes starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan had struck out the side in order in the first and retired the first two batters in the second. Then, he walked the next three batters to load the bases. Sheehan, the sixth-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers out of Boston College in the 2021 draft who was making his Loons debut, was removed from the game after the third straight walk.

Braidyn Fink was called out of the Loons bullpen and Alex Hall lined the first pitch from Fink to left for a two-run double. Then, Fink walked Joey Wiemer intentionally and Sal Frelick followed with another two-run double for a 4-0 lead.

The Loons (63-56) got a run in their half of the second with a two-out RBI single by Johnny DeLuca.

Great Lakes crept closer in the fourth on a two-out, two-run double by Zac Ching and Wisconsin’s lead was down to 4-3. Rattlers starting pitcher Nick Bennett worked a scoreless fifth inning and left the game with the lead and seven strikeouts to his name.

The teams traded runs in the sixth inning.

Loons’ reliever Jeff Belge retired the first two Rattlers to bat in the sixth. Hall extended the inning with a double and Great Lakes elected to walk Wiemer intentionally again. Frelick made the Loons pay for their decision again when he lined a single to left and Hall raced home. Frelick, the first-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers out of Boston College in the 2021 draft, ended the night with two hits and three RBI.

In the bottom of the sixth, Wisconsin reliever Kent Hasler set down the first two Loons. An error let DeLuca reach and he stole second to get into scoring position. Ching lined a single up the middle and DeLuca scored and Wisconsin’s lead was down to one run again.

Great Lakes threatened again in the eighth inning. Nash Walters, who had pitched a scoreless seventh, gave up a walk, a single, and a wild pitch with one out and the Loons had the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second. Walters struck out DeLuca and turned the game over to Evan Reifert, who got the final out of the eighth on a strikeout of Ching.

In the bottom of the ninth, Leonel Valera started the inning with a high fly down the line in left that dropped in for a triple. Reifert almost got out of the inning with a strikeout of Eddys Leonard, a flyout to shallow right off the bat of league home run leader Andy Pages, and a quick strike on Jorbit Vivas. However, the next pitch got past catcher Alex Hall and allowed Valera to score the tying run.

In extra innings, Wisconsin struck big. Freddy Zamora walked with one out after a wild pitch had sent Carlos Rodríguez to third. Then, Chad McClanahan hammered the first pitch of his at bat deep to right-center for a three-run home and an 8-5 lead.

Reifert went back out for the bottom of the tenth and got two quick outs with Vivas only reaching third base. The final out was elusive. Joe Vranesh reached on an infield single to score Vivas. DeLuca followed with a single to put the tying runs on base and bring Ching to the plate as the potential tying run.

There was more drama added to the mix as Reifert stumbled on the mound after a pitch to Ching early in the at bat and fell behind in the count 2-1. Reifert bounced back and got Ching swinging at the next two pitches to end the game.

The playoff hopes of the Loons were completely dashed when the Cedar Rapids Kernels defeated the Peoria Chiefs 6-4 in Peoria moments earlier on Saturday night. The win by the Kernels officially eliminated both Great Lakes and the Dayton Dragons from playoff contention. The Lake County Captains are the only team with a chance to catch the Kernels for the Wild Card and the right to face Quad Cities in the Championship Series.

There is one game remaining in the season Cedar Rapids can get in with a win or a Lake County loss on Sunday. The Captains must win and the Kernels must lose for Lake County to get into the playoffs.

The Timber Rattlers and Loons end their seasons on Sunday at Dow Diamond. TJ Shook (1-1, 9.00) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The Loons have scheduled Hyun-iL Choi (0-2, 4.50) as their starting pitcher. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05pm CDT. The radio broadcast is on AM 1280, WNAM and on internet audio with the pregame show at 11:45am. The game is also available on MiLB.tv.