Late Rattler rally beats Kane County 7-3
Wisconsin completes the sweep of Cougars
By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

GRAND CHUTE, WI - Omar Garcia tripled in two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 3-3 tie and send the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to a 7-3 victory over the Kane County Cougars Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The win gave the Rattlers a three-game sweep of the Cougars.

Kane County (67-42 overall, 22-17 second half) scored an unearned run in the top of the first inning. Chesny Young singled to start the game. An error on a potential double play ball off the bat of Carlos Penalver allowed Young to go to third. Ben Carhart's sacrifice fly drove in Young for a 1-0 lead.

The Cougars added another unearned run in the top of the fourth inning. Jefferey Baez blooped a double to right and it was misplayed to allow him to take third base. Kevin Brown's RBI grounder to short drove in Baez for a 2-0 lead.

Wisconsin (58-50, 22-17) rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Clint Coulter drew a leadoff walk and was sacrificed to second base on a bunt by Garcia. Dustin DeMuth drove in Coulter with a double to left, Wisconsin's first hit in the game off Kane County starter Ben Wells.

Jose Pena followed with a single to move Demuth to third. Angel Ortega's sacrifice fly drove in DeMuth with the tying run.

The Timber Rattlers took the lead without getting a hit in the bottom of the sixth. Taylor Brennan drew a leadoff walk, but was erased on a force play as Chris McFarland reached on a fielder's choice. Michael Ratterree was hit by a pitch and David Denson reached on an error to load the bases. Coulter drew a walk to force in McFarland and the Rattlers were up 3-2.

Wisconsin starter Clint Terry turned the lead over to Barrett Astin in the top of the seventh. Terry allowed two unearned runs on five hits, walked two, and struck out fout.

Kane County almost tied the game in the seventh. Carlos Penalver was at first with two outs. Ben Carhart sent a tough grounder to short and the throw to first was wild. Penalver raced around to third and headed for the plate as first baseman David Denson tracked down the ball on the warning track in front of the seats along the Kane County dugout. Denson threw a strike to the plate that beat Penalver. Coulter made the tag for the third out of the inning.

But, the Cougars would tie the game in the top of the seventh inning. Jeimer Candelario singles with one out. Cael Brockmeyer doubled to the gap in right-center and Candelario scored without a play to even the score 3-3.

Denson was at first base with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and stole second, his second steal of the season. Then, Coulter drew a walk, his third free pass of the game. Garcia came to the plate and he wasn't bunting this time. The Rattlers centerfielder lined a 1-0 pitch from reliever Zak Hermans just fair down the line in right for a triple to drive in both Denson and Coulter for a 5-3 lead.

Wisconsin picked up insurance runs on RBI singles by DeMuth and Pena and were up 7-3 heading to the ninth inning.

Astin shutdown the Cougars 1-2-3 in the ninth to close out the three-game sweep.

The win put the Timber Rattlers eight games over .500 for the first time this season. The loss was the sixth straight for Kane County.

The Timber Rattlers begin a three-game series with the Peoria Chiefs on Friday night at 7:05pm. Taylor Williams (7-1, 2.52) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers in game one. Rob Perdomo (2-1, 4.82) is set to start for the Chiefs.

Ducks Unlimited presents Outdoors Night on Friday night. Timber Rattlers players and coaches will be wearing jerseys with a special outdoors camouflage pattern. These jerseys will be available in a silent auction during the game with the proceeds going to Ducks Unlimited. The first 500 fans to attend the game will receive a flashlight in the shape of a duck call from Ducks Unlimited.

All children 12 and under receive a free hot dog and soda as part of North Shore Bank/Y100 Family night. There will be a postgame fireworks display. Then, kids 14 and under may participate in Kids Run the Bases thanks to Molina Healthcare after the fireworks. Plus, Potawatomi Bingo Casino presents Baseball Bingo, a chance to win prizes by playing a baseball-themed bingo game.

If you can't make it out to the ballpark, there are many ways to catch the action. MyNEW32's Sports Showdown will have the television broadcast starting at 7:00pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. Subscribers to MiLB.TVcan see the game, too.

WP: Barrett Astin (7-5)
LP: Zak Hermans (2-3)

TIME: 2:37
ATTN: 2,917

Wisconsin Boxscore
I will admit to being worried about getting no hit by a scrub pitcher through the first 4 innings, I had to double check Ben Wells twice to make sure I had the correct "Wells". As long as I mentioned it he was the Cubs' 28th ranked prospect coming into the season and he's way out of the top 30 now with Russell and the most recent draft.

I feel bad for mentioning this repeatedly but Clint Terry doesn't have a live arm but he sure knows how to pitch.

Dustin DeMuth (2-4,2B) and Jose Pena (2-3,BB) had the multi-hit games for the Rattlers.

Wisconsin Recap

Wisconsin Gameday

Sounds Rally Over Sky Sox, 5-4
Nashville Erases Two Late Deficits In Win
Nashville Sounds

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The first-place Nashville Sounds (60-52) fought back from two late deficits before finally holding on for a 5-4 win over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (46-65) in Game 2 of a doubleheader at Security Service Field on Thursday night.

The win prevented Nashville from being swept in a twinbill for the first time in 2014, and the Sounds now hold a 2-0-3 record in doubleheaders this season. The win also gives Nashville seven victories in its last nine games.

Trailing 4-3 in the final inning of the seven-frame contest, the Sounds got a rally started when a pitch hit catcher Shawn Zarraga to lead off the inning. Pinch runner Lucas May then advanced on a sacrifice bunt and groundout before Sean Halton came up with a two-out double to tie the game. Nashville then took the lead when catcher Dustin Garneau threw away a Pete Orr dribbler that allowed Halton to score.

Sounds starter Donovan Hand (1-6) twirled another masterful start, pitching 4.2 innings, but left the game with two runners on base and the score tied at 0-0 in the bottom of the fifth. Dustin Molleken came in and allowed a two-run triple to Jason Pridie, with both runs charged to Hand to snap his string of 10 consecutive innings without allowing a run. Despite allowing a pair of runs on three hits, Hand's ERA since joining the rotation is 2.07 (3er/13ip) in three starts.

Colorado Springs tacked on another run shortly after, when Molleken threw a wild pitch to allow Pridie to score.

Nashville responded with another two-out rally in the top of the sixth that was sparked by a Eugenio Velez single. After taking two bases on a wild pitch by reliever Christian Friedrich, Velez scored on a triple by Jason Rogers. Matt Clark then tied the game with a home run to right field, his fourth of the season.

The Sky Sox took back the lead off of Molleken again in the bottom of the sixth, when Drew Garcia came through with a one-out RBI single that scored Garneau to give Colorado Springs a 4-3 advantage.

Once the Sounds jumped ahead in the top of the seventh, Rob Wooten secured the important victory with a scoreless bottom half to pick up his seventh save of the season.

The Sounds and Sky Sox have another doubleheader on tap Friday, with Nashville RHP Taylor Jungmann (5-5, 5.13) squaring off against RHP Jair Jurrjens (0-2, 3.46) in Game 1, which is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT. Sounds RHP Kyle Heckathorn (3-2, 6.18) will follow in Game 2 against RHP Leuris Gomez (1-1, 5.52).

Nashville Game2 Boxscore
Quite the interesting pitching match-up tomorrow.

Nashville Game2 Recap

Nashville Game2 Gameday