River Bandits Rally Late to Beat Rattlers 2-1 in Ten Innings

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had a 1-0 lead over the Quad Cities River Bandits heading into the ninth inning on Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field. But, the Bandits scored a two-out run in the ninth to tie the game and scored the only run in extra innings to defeat Wisconsin 2-1 in ten innings.
Zach Clark gave the Rattlers (61-68 overall, 30-30 second half) a 1-0 lead with a two-out solo home run to right. Clark's eighth home run of the season hit on the top of the wall and bounced on to the Home Run Porch for the lead.

Wisconsin starting pitcher Dylan File scattered seven hits over seven innings and struck out seven to protect the lead.

The River Bandits (74-56, 34-26) chased File from the game in the top of the eighth as the first two hitters reached base. Reliever Robbie Hitt entered the game and maintained the lead as he got a force play at third on a sacrifice bunt attempt, a popup and a strikeout.

In the ninth, Hitt retired the first two batters he faced, but allowed a single to Alfredo Angarita to extend the game. Hitt was ahead of Miguelangel Sierra with two quick strikes, but Sierra dropped a single into right-center to send Angarita around to third base. Hitt was one strike away one more time in the inning as he had a 1-2 count on Cesar Salazar, but the next pitch was lined up the middle for an RBI single to tie the game.

Quad Cities took their first lead of the game in the top of the tenth. Trey Dawson started the inning at second base and was moved to third on a grounder to the right side of the infield. Chandler Taylor was next and he drove a single through the drawn-in infield to plate Dawson for the 2-1 lead.

Clark was the Rattler to start the bottom of the tenth inning at second base, but an unsuccessful sacrifice attempt kept him at second base. Gabriel García followed with a fly ball to right to move Clark to third, but Clark was left at third when Darren Seferina grounded out to first to end the game.
In the second half Western Division Wild Card race, Kane County lost 4-3 to Peoria at home and Beloit beat Cedar Rapids 5-4 at home. Kane County's Wild Card lead over Beloit dropped to a half game. The Rattlers missed a chance to pick up ground and remained 3-1/2 games behind the Cougars. Wisconsin has ten games remaining in the regular season.
The Timber Rattlers start a four-game road trip on Friday night with a game against the Clinton LumberKings at Ashford University Field. Aaron Ashby (1-1, 2.39) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The LumberKings have named Scott Boches (2-5, 3.49) as their starter. Game time is 6:30pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 6:10pm. The broadcast is also available on the Tune In and IHeart Radio apps.