April 16 Game Notes

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Fort Wayne Wizards defeated the Timber Rattlers 5-3. Luis Martinez drove in three runs and Wynn Pelzer earned his first professional win for the Wizards.

WALKING AWAY: Timber Rattler starting pitcher Rob Harmon walked the first three batters of the top of the second inning. Martinez followed with a two-run double to break the scoreless tie. Brad Chalk’s RBI single later in the frame made it 3-0.

FREE PASSES: Five Timber Rattler pitchers combined to walk seven Fort Wayne batters last night. Four of those seven walks came in to score.

STOP, THIEVES! The Wizards stole four bases last night. In the first two games of this series, Fort Wayne is 10-for-10 in stolen base attempts.

GET OUTTA HERE! Rattler catcher Korey Feiner hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third inning. It was the first home run of the season for Wisconsin. The Timber Rattlers were the last team in minor league baseball to hit a home run this season.

AND ANOTHER THING OR TWO: The last home rune Feiner hit was on June 17, 2007 for the Rochester Red Wings, the International League (AAA) affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. He hit the home run off Louisville Bats pitcher Eddie Guardado. Yes, that Eddie Guardado.

FIRST-TIMER: Pelzer pitched 3.2 innings in relief for the Wizards. In his first three innings, he struck out six and the only base runner he allowed was when Alex Liddi reached on an error in the sixth. Pelzer needed some help to close out the game to pick up his first professional win.

LATE CHARGE: Wisconsin trailed 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth. Pelzer walked the first two batters he faced, retired the next two batters, but walked another Rattler to load the bases. Daniel Carroll’s infield single off reliever Tyler Davis got one run home. But, Davis got the final out of the game for the save.

RARITY, SO FAR: When the Rattlers loaded the bases with two out in the ninth inning last night, it was only the second time this season they have had the sacks full. The last time Wisconsin had the bases loaded was in game one of the doubleheader of the second game of the season.

FORT WAYNE STARTING PITCHER: Allen Harrington was the 13th round pick of the Padres in the 2007 draft out of Lamar. He went 9-4 with a 3.72 ERA and six complete games in 16 starts. He was 0-1 with a 3.48ERA in six games (all in relief) for the Eugene Emeralds before being promoted to Fort Wayne. Harrington was 0-2 with a 1.74ERA in 18 games (three starts) for the Wizards. Harrington faced the Timber Rattlers on August 4, 2007 and pitched 1.1IP and allowed no runs and no hits with two walks and a strikeout. In his last outing this season, Harrington earned a four inning save against the Beloit Snappers on April 11. He gave up one run on three hits with four strikeouts.

FORT WAYNE SECOND PITCHER: The Wizards employ the tandem – or “piggyback” – system for their pitchers. The scheduled second pitcher for Fort Wayne tonight is Jeremy Hefner who was the 5th round pick of the Padres in 2007 out of Oral Roberts. Hefner went 9-2 with a 3.03ERA and struck out 107 batters in 86 innings pitched. He made his pro debut with the Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League and was 2-5 with a 3.90ERA in 17 appearances (11 starts). Today will be his debut against the Timber Rattlers, but he did face Everett, Seattle’s Northwest League affiliate, three times (two starts) in 2007. Hefner went 1-1 in those three games and allowed one earned run over 11.1IP. He struck out 15 AquaSox batters and walked three in those games. Hefner’s last outing this season was a start at Beloit on April 11. He pitched four shutout innings with two hits and five strikeouts for a no decision.