(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) BELOIT – The Beloit Sky Carp are known for their speed instead of their power. That changed on Thursday night at ABC Supply Stadium. Beloit hit three solo homers and kept the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers from taking advantage of eight walks and two errors. Beloit beat Wisconsin 5-3 to earn their first win of the series after the Rattlers had won the first two games.
Starlyn Caba gave the Sky Carp (51-53 overall, 24-15 second half) a 1-0 lead when he hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first inning on the tenth pitch of his at bat against Wisconsin starting pitcher Jacob Morrison.
Cody Schrier added to the Beloit lead with a lead-off homer in the second.
Nate Payne, the Beloit starting pitcher, walked Luis Peña to start the game. Then, he retired the next eleven Rattlers in a row, including seven via the strikeout.
Wisconsin (55-45, 21-17) snapped that streak with three straight two-out singles in the top of the fourth. Eric Bitonti and Luis Castillo set up the rally. Tayden Hall cashed in Bitonti with a single to right.
The Sky Carp added to their lead in their half of the fourth. Carter Johnson opened the inning with a double. Brian Sanchez singled to right to knock in Johnson. The throw to the plate was late and the throw to second in an attempt to get Sanchez was wild to allow him to take third base. Abrahan Ramirez drove in Sanchez with a single for a 4-1 advantage.
The fifth inning was odd and frustrating for the Timber Rattlers. Payne walked the first two batters on eight pitches but had one on with one out after Luis Lameda was picked off first by catcher Carlos Sanchez on a 3-0 pitch to Yannic Walther. Payne left the game with two outs in the fifth after recording his ninth strikeout.
Cannon Pickell entered the game and walked the next three batters, including Eric Bitonti with the bases loaded, to force in a run.
Luis Castillo, the Wisconsin leader in RBI, was next. He hit a sinking, slicing line drive to the gap in left-center. Jacob Jenkins-Cowart raced in and made a diving catch for the final out to deny Castillo and the Rattlers.
Jenkins-Cowart twisted the knife in the bottom of the fifth with a long, lead-off homer for a 5-2 lead.
Jayden Dubanewicz gave the Rattlers a chance with three scoreless innings out of the Wisconsin bullpen. He walked one and struck out three.
Hall cracked a lead-off home run for Wisconsin in the top of the eighth inning against Juan Reynoso, the fourth Beloit pitcher of the game. A single by Juan Baez followed that homer. He was at third with two outs after an error and a wild pitch. Walther drew another walk, the eighth of the night by Beloit pitching, to bring Peña to the plate as the potential go-ahead run. Reynoso struck out Peña to end the threat and went on to strike out two more Rattlers in a perfect ninth inning to earn his twelfth save of the season.
Beloit had hit 93 homers, tied for tenth in the Midwest League, coming into the game. They were just 2-for-4 in stolen base attempts against Walther on Thursday to run their league-leading total to 243 stolen bases.
Wisconsin stranded ten runners as they went 1-for-8, including six strikeouts, with runners in scoring position.
The loss was costly for the Timber Rattlers as it dropped them back to 2-1/2 games behind the West Division-leading Sky Carp. Also, with the Quad Cities River Bandits defeating the Peoria Chiefs 7-0 on Thursday, Wisconsin is now a game behind the Bandits, who remained 1-1/2 games behind Beloit.
Hall’s home run was his tenth of the season in the Midwest League. This marks the first time there have been six Timber Rattlers to reach double digits in home runs during a season. Braylon Payne (22), Andrew Fischer (20), Bitonti (17), Castillo (14), Marco Dinges, and Hall (10) are the six Wisconsin hitters with ten or more homers in 2026.
Game four of the series is Friday night at ABC Supply Stadium. Josh Knoth (3-2, 4.79) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Michael Perez (4-0, 4.33) is scheduled to start for Beloit. Game time is 6:05pm.
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