(TIMBER RATTLERS) GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Cedar Rapids Kernels and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers both had thirteen hits on Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field. The Kernels would go 6-for-17 with runners in scoring position to be able to do more with their hits on the way to an 10-6 victory over the Rattlers.
The Kernels (32-21) scored four runs in the top of the first inning against Tyson Hardin. A single and a walk started the game. Nate Baez singled to center with the runners going to drive in a run and put runners at the corners. A passed ball allowed the second run of the inning to score.
Later in the inning Danny DeAndrade added to the lead with an RBI single and Jay Thomason doubled in a run to make it 4-0.
Wisconsin (26-28) loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first inning as Kernels starting pitcher Ty Langenberg walked Juan Baez and Eduardo Garcia with Blake Burke lining a single to left. However, Langenberg got out of the inning with three straight strikeouts.
Cedar Rapids added single runs in the second and third innings to go up 6-0. Kaelen Culpepper singled home the run in the second. Poncho Ruiz had a two-out single in the third.
The Rattlers loaded the bases again in the third inning, this time with one out on singles by Burke and Marco Dinges and a walk to Jadher Areinamo. Tayden Hall drew a walk to force in the first run. Yhoswar Garcia plated the second run of the inning on a slow grounder to third.
A misplay on a flyball off the bat of Brandon Winokur with two outs and a runner at first in the top of the fourth inning gave Winokur a triple and the Kernels a 7-2 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, Juan Baez singled and Eduardo Garcia doubled with one out. Burke followed with a two-run double. Dinges followed with a single. Then, Areinamo drove in Burke with a sacrifice fly to bring the Rattlers to within 7-5.
Thomason expanded the lead for the Kernels with a lead-off homer in the top of the fifth against Yerlin Rodriguez, the Rattlers first reliever out of the bullpen.
Eduardo Garcia launched a solo home run of his own, a two-out blast off the light tower beyond the wall in left, in the sixth inning. That blast, his eighth of the season, brought the Rattlers back to within two runs.
Rodriguez pitched a scoreless sixth before walking the first two Kernels he faced in the seventh. A 5-4-3 double play got him one out from another scoreless frame. However, Rayne Doncon hit a home run to left and the Kernels were up 10-6.
Aaron Rund replaced Rodriguez and worked 2-1/3 perfect innings two three strikeouts in an attempt to let the Rattlers bats get back in the game.
The Rattlers tried to rally as Areinamo had a lead-off single in the seventh, Juan Baez had a two-out single in the eighth, and Dinges and Areinamo had one-out singles in the ninth. But the Rattlers would not cross the plate again. They had thirteen hits yet stranded ten runners as they were 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Burke and Dinges led the Wisconsin offense with three hits each. Garcia’s double was his fourteenth of the season and he also scored two runs for the Rattlers.
Game four of the series is Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Jaron DeBerry (0-1, 7.11) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Chase Cheaney (3-1, 3.97) is set to start for the Kernels. Game time is 6:40pm.
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