(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) DAVENPORT, IA – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had an unlucky night at the ballpark against the Quad Cities River Bandits at Modern Woodmen Park in the final game of the first half. Quad Cities broke a 3-3 tie with five runs – four unearned – in the fourth inning and cruised to a 9-3 victory.
Wisconsin leadoff hitter Josiah Ragsdale reached base and scored in the first inning for the third consecutive night. He walked and scored on Tuesday, homered on the third pitch of Wednesday’s game, and drove the second pitch on Thursday for a single. Braylon Payne knocked in Ragsdale with a one-out double to left-center for the 1-0 lead.
The River Bandits (30-33) got a fortunate bounce to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first. Ramon Ramirez hit a line drive deep to right with two outs and a runner at first. Ragsdale raced back and made a leaping attempt for a catch that would have been the final out. The ball glanced off his glove and the top of the wall to go over for a two-run home run.
Back-to-back doubles by Tyriq Kemp and Connor Rasmussen in the bottom of the second gave Quad Cities a 3-1 lead.
Payne brought the game back to even for Wisconsin (34-28) in the top of the third. Andrick Nava doubled and Ragsdale walked. Payne ripped a triple to the corner in right with one out to knock in both runners to make the score 3-3.
The Bandits took advantage of another Wisconsin miscue in the bottom of the fourth to retake the lead and then some. Rasmussen doubled with one out. Wisconsin starting pitcher Ethan Dorchies struck out Trevor Werner for what should have been the second out. However, Nava couldn’t grab strike three and the ball went to the backstop. Werner made it to first and Rasmussen took third.
Asbel Gonzalez dropped a bunt for a safety squeeze to score Rasmussen and beat the throw to first for a single.
Dorchies got what should have been a tailor-made double play ball to end the inning of the bat of Nolan Sailors. The Bandits foiled that chance by starting the runners and the only out was to first base.
Dorchies thought he struck out Blake Mitchell on an 0-2 pitch, but the call was a ball. Then, the two battled to the seventh pitch of the at bat before Mitchell muscled a bloop single into center to score two more runs and end Dorchies night.
A final blow was struck in the inning as Ramirez greeted reliever Tanner Perry with a long home run to left for his second two-run shot of the night and an 8-3 lead.
Perry walked Rasmussen on four pitches with two outs in the sixth inning and Trevor Werner cashed in that chance with a double to center to send Rasmussen home with a ninth run of the River Bandits.
There was some good news for the Rattlers. Daniel Corniel returned from injury to pitch in Midwest League game for the first time since April 9, 2025. Corniel worked three scoreless innings of relief, including working out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the bottom of the eighth by getting Ramirez to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
The Rattler offense was mostly silent after Payne’s two-run triple in the third. Quad Cities pitching retired fifteen Rattlers in a row until Ragsdale doubled with one out in the eighth inning against reliever Max Martin, who got the final two outs of the inning. LP Langevin struck out the side in order in the top of the ninth to close out the game and the first half.
David Shields, the starting – and winning – pitcher for Quad Cities, had ten strikeouts and one walk over five innings. Shields, Martin, and Langevin combined for fifteen strikeouts in the game.
Ragsdale had his team-leading seventeenth multi-hit game of the season as he was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored for Wisconsin to extend his on-base streak to 23 games. Payne went 2-for-4 with three RBI on Thursday night. He is 8-for-16 with ten RBI in just four games as the number three hitter in the Wisconsin lineup.
The series continues on Friday night at Modern Woodmen Park with the first game of the second half of the season. Wisconsin has Jason Woodward (1-2, 5,33) as their scheduled starting pitcher. Quad Cities will go with Kendry Chourio, who will make his Midwest League debut, as their starter. Game time is 6:30pm CDT.
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