Rattlers Bats Come Up Big

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers offense was red hot on a cool night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Gilbert Lara had four hits to pace Wisconsin's 18-hit attack on the way to a 15-5 win over the Peoria Chiefs Friday night.
Wisconsin (6-15) sent nine men to the plate in the first inning to take a 5-0 lead on the Chiefs. Joantgel Segovia started the party with a triple and the next three Rattlers walked. Demi Orimoloye drew the third walk in the sequence and forced in Segovia with the first run. Lara was next and he dropped a single to center that drove in two runs. KJ Harrison, the sixth batter of the inning, doubled to knock in one more run for a 4-0 lead before the first out was recorded. Later in the inning, Payton Henry knocked in the last run of the frame with a grounder.

Tristen Lutz, who scored four runs in the game, cracked a long homer to center with one out in the second inning for a 6-0 advantage.

Peoria (9-10) got a pair of runs in the fourth inning, but starting pitcher Bowden Francis closed out the inning without allowing the Chiefs to get any closer. Then, he worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning with a pair of strikeouts to finish his night. Francis struck out five over five innings to put himself in position for his first Midwest League victory.

The Rattler bats came back out in the bottom of the fifth inning for two more runs. Henry drove in his second run of the game with a sacrifice fly and Nick Roscetti, who had three hits, had an RBI single.

The Chiefs got two runs off reliever Carlos Herrera in the top of the sixth inning when Julio Rodriguez drilled a two-run homer to make it 8-4.

Wisconsin put the game away in the bottom of the sixth. Lutz and Pat McInerney started the inning with back-to-back doubles to get the first run home. Orimoloye drew his third walk of the game to get on base before Harrison doubled again to get McInerney home. That set up Devin Hairston, who joined the Rattlers earlier in the day, to collect two RBI with his first hit of the season, a sharp single to score Orimoloye and Harrison. Roscetti made it 13-4 with an RBI double to send Hairston home.

The Rattlers added their final runs in the seventh as Orimoloye grounded into a 6-4-3 double play with the bases loaded and Lara knocked in a run with his fourth hit of the night.

Jose Cuas, a Timber Rattlers infielder in 2017 who made the switch to the mound after the season, made his professional pitching debut by entering the game from the Rattlers bullpen for the eighth inning. Yariel Gonzalez tripled when Segovia lost his line drive to left in the lights and Juan Yepez, who had three hits for the Chiefs, singled to knock the run. Cuas ended the inning by getting the next batter to ground into a 4-3 double play.

The fifteen runs for Wisconsin were the most they have scored this season. That is also the biggest offensive night for the Timber Rattlers since they recorded a 16-5 win over Dayton on July 17, 2017.

The win was the first for the Rattlers over Peoria this season. Wisconsin went 0-6 in six games at Peoria earlier this season.
Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Alec Bettinger (0-2, 7.43) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Peoria plans on Zach Prendergast (2-0, 0.00) as their starting pitcher. Game time is 1:05pm.

Saturday afternoon is Yooper Day at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The first 1,000 fans to attend the game will receive a specially designed Timber Rattlers t-shirt with the Upper Peninsula in mind courtesy of Michigan Technological University, Stormy Kromer, Northern Michigan University, Northwinds Adventures, and Keweenaw Pub.

Also, Nick Baumgartner, a three-time United States Olympic snowboarder from Iron River, is scheduled to appear at the game. He will throw out a ceremonial first pitch and sign autographs on Saturday afternoon.
If you can't make it to the game, there are several ways to catch the action. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 12:45pm. The broadcast is also available on the Tune In and IHeart Radio apps. Subscribers to MiLB.tv can watch the game over the internet.