(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) BELOIT – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers grabbed an early 6-0 lead at ABC Supply Stadium on Friday night against the Beloit Sky Carp. The Rattlers fought back to tie the game 11-11 with a run in the top of the eighth inning only to see the Sky Carp win the game 12-11 on a two-out, walkoff wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth.
Wisconsin (67-58 overall, 33-30 second half) was hot early against Beloit starter Emmett Olson. The first six Timber Rattlers to hit in the top of the first inning reached base and all six scored.
Brady Ebel, in his first game back off Wisconsin’s IL, was hit by the first pitch of the game from Olson. Daniel Dickinson was next and walked. Eric Bitonti singled to right to score Ebel. Juan Ortuño followed with an automatic double on a ball that hit on the warning track and bounced into the Beloit bullpen to knock in Dickinson for a 2-0 lead.
Luis Castillo was next and he cracked a three-run home run to right. The homer was his twentieth of the season to make him the fourth Rattler to reach twenty or more this season.
Tayden Hall made it consecutive homers when he hit his twelfth of the season moments later. That marked the seventh time in 2026 Wisconsin hitters have hit back-to-back homers.
Olson retired the next two batters before being lifted in favor of Luis De La Cruz.
Beloit (65-64, 38-26) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first against Andrew Healy, the Rattlers starter. Victor Ortega singled to knock in Jesús Hernandez, who had reached on an error to start the inning.
Wisconsin made it 7-1 in their favor on an RBI double by Tyler Rodriguez in the top of the third.
The Sky Carp scored three times in the bottom of the third. Ortega doubled to knock in two runs with an error on the play allowing him to take third base. Esmil Valencia scored Ortega with a single.
The Rattlers loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth but managed one run on an RBI grounder by Castillo for an 8-4 advantage. That RBI gave Castillo 89 RBI on the season. He is the first Rattler to reach 89 RBI in a season since Clint Coulter had 89 in 2014.
Wilson Weber launched a lead-off home run in the bottom of the fourth. Hernandez and Carter Johnson reached with one out and pulled a double steal to get them both into scoring position. Healy committed a balk to allow Hernandez to score. Ortega popped out to shallow center with Ebel racing back from short to make the catch with his back to the plate. Johnson tagged and scored easily to cut Wisconsin’s lead to a run.
Thomas Conrad, in his Timber Rattlers debut, took over for Healy in the fifth and pitched a scoreless inning with help from Castillo in right field. Brian Sanchez was at second with two outs when Emilio Barreras singled to right. Castillo caught the ball on one hop and fired a strike to the plate. Catcher Yannic Walther got the tag on Sanchez for the final out to keep the Rattlers up 8-7.
Luiyin Alastre gave the Rattlers a little more cushion with a two-out, two-run single in the top of the seventh for a 10-7 lead.
The Sky Carp were unbothered. Chase Jaworsky hit a one-out solo homer in the bottom of the seventh for his third homer of the series. Jaworsky has six home runs this season with four off Wisconsin pitchers. A double and a walk set up Weber for an RBI single. Conrad got the second out of the inning but walked Hernandez to load the bases.
Johnson ripped a double to right to score two runs as Beloit took an 11-10 lead. Hernandez was thrown out at the plate on a great relay throw from Juan Baez for the final out of the inning.
In the top of the eighth, Ebel walked and Baez, who had replaced Daniel Dickinson after a puzzling ejection in the top of the sixth inning, singled. Ebel beat the throw to third with Baez moving to second on the play. Bitonti got Ebel home with a grounder to short to tie the game. Bitonti is at 88 RBI this season after he drove in a pair of runs on Friday night.
Michael Fowler took over for the Rattlers in the bottom of the ninth and retired the first two batters with the game appearing to be going to extra innings. Weber kept the inning alive with a broken-bat single to center. Fowler threw consecutive wild pitches to allow Weber to take third base with Barreras at the plate. A walk to Barreras brought Jacob Jenkins-Cowart to the plate for the first time. Jenkins-Cowart had entered the game in the top of the ninth as a defensive replacement for Hernandez.
Jenkins-Cowart never had a chance to swing the bat. Fowler threw a wild pitch on his first offering to Jenkins-Cowart and Weber scored the winning run.
Castillo and Bitonti both have a chance to become the first Rattler to reach 90 RBI in a season since Jon Nelson had 91 RBI in 2003. They have the second-most combined RBI by Wisconsin teammates in a single season with 177. In 1999, Juan Silvestre (107) and Bo Robinson (102) combined for 209 RBI during that regular season.
Game five of the series is Saturday night at ABC Supply Stadium. Daniel Corniel (1-4, 5.11) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Carson Laws (2-7, 6.19) is the announced starting pitcher for the Sky Carp. Game time is 6:35pm.
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