July 19 game notes

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The South Bend Silver Hawks beat the Timber Rattlers 2-1. South Bend scored an unearned run in the top of the seventh inning to break a 1-1 tie. Tom Layne allowed a first inning run and shut the Rattlers out over his next six innings. Jeff Dietz wrapped up the game with two perfect innings for the save.

OUT OF THE BLOCKS: Wisconsin jumped to the early lead. Daniel Carroll, the Rattler leadoff batter, was hit by a pitch, stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Edilio Colina in the bottom of the first. Denny Almonte followed with a single to right and the Rattlers had a 1-0 lead.

HERE’S A TIE: The Silver Hawks answered in the top of the second inning with a run off Michael Pineda. Ramon Ramirez, who had three hits for the Silver Hawks in the game, doubled to start the inning. A groundout moved him to third and a sacrifice fly by Matt Oxendine drove in Ramirez to make the score 1-1.

CHANCES: The Rattlers had a couple of opportunities to retake the lead against Layne after South Bend tied the game. Joe Dunigan doubled to start the bottom of the second inning, but he was left stranded at third when the frame ended. Alex Liddi tripled with two outs in the sixth, but did not get to the plate.

END OF THE LINE: Pineda had allowed one run on four hits through the first 6-1/3 innings. Then, Ramirez collected his third hit, a single with one out in the seventh, to knock Pineda, who was near 100 pitches, out of the game. Joe Kantakevich relieved and gave up a single to Bill Musselman that put runners on first and second.

UNLUCKY SEVENTH: Oxendine was next and Kantakevich jammed him. The resulting slow roller to short was fielded by Juan Diaz and turned into a force play at second. Colina’s hurried throw to first to complete the double play was wild and got past Ron Garth. Ramirez scored from second and the Hawks had the 2-1 lead.

DOUBLED UP: In the bottom of the seventh, Dunigan singled to start the inning to collect his second multi-hit game of the series against the Hawks. But, Layne got Israel Nunez to ground into a double play to kill the rally.

HOME: The Rattlers have fallen to 19-23 at home this season. In the second half, Wisconsin is 2-11 on Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

ROAD: Wisconsin begins a six-game, seven-day road trip tonight. The Rattlers will play the Beloit Snappers in a three-game series starting tonight and ending on Monday afternoon. There will be an off day on Tuesday followed by a three game series in West Michigan July 23-25.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: The Beloit Snappers are the Midwest League affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They finished the first half with a record of 36-32 and missed the playoffs in the Western Division. The Snappers are currently 16-11. They trail Peoria for the top second half playoff spot in the East by 2-1/2 games. The Snappers hold the second half Western Division wild card spot by a game over Cedar Rapids. Beloit has a record of 24-22 at home this season.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: The Timber Rattlers are hitting .237 as a team and have scored 339 runs (3.6/game). Wisconsin has hit 34 home runs this season. The Timber Rattler pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.88. Beloit is hitting .262 as a team and has scored 450 runs (4.7/game). The Snappers have hit 54 home runs this season. The Beloit pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.81.

2008 SEASON SERIES: Beloit holds a 5-3 edge in the season series. The Rattlers are 2-1 at Pohlman Field. The Snappers are 4-1 on Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

2008 IN BELOIT: The Rattlers took two out of three from the Snappers in Beloit June 18-20. The Snappers won the first game 5-3 in a rain-shortened, five inning game. The Rattlers bounced back to win the next two games by scores of 5-3 and 4-3.

PROSPECTING: Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook places six current members of the 2008 Beloit roster on their list of the Top 30 Prospects in the Minnesota organization. Outfielder Ben Revere, the first round pick of the Twins in the 2007 draft, is the highest rated player on the team at #6. Third baseman Deibinson Romero (#13), pitcher David Bromberg (#15), shortstop Estarlin de los Santos (#17), and pitchers Mike McCardell (#18) and Loek Van Mil (#19) are also on the list. Outfielders Joe Benson (#2) and Chris Parmelee (#12) is on list prospect list, but is also on the Beloit disabled list.

OUT OF THE DRAFT 2007: The Snappers have eight members of the 2007 Minnesota draft class on their current roster. Pitchers Steven Hirschfeld (9th), Michael McCardell (6th), Charles Nolte (24th), and Michael Tarsi (12th) are joined by infielder Chris Cates (38th) and outfielders Ozzie Lewis (21st), Ben Revere (1st), and Andrew Schmiesing (11th).

OUT OF THE DRAFT 2008: Pitcher Blake Martin, an 18th round selection of the Twins, is the only member of the 2008 Minnesota draft class on the current Beloit roster.

BELOIT STARTING PITCHER: RH Steven Hirschfeld was the 9th round pick of the Twins in the 2007 draft out of the Community College of Southern Nevada. He was 1-2 with a 4.26ERA in eight games (six starts) for the Elizabethton Twins of the Appalachian League with six walks and 20 strikeouts over 25-1/3 innings. Hirschfeld began the 2008 season in the Beloit bullpen and was 4-1 with a save and an ERA of 2.42 over 15 relief appearances. As a starter, Hirschfeld is 1-1 with a 3.12 ERA in six starts. In his outing prior to this evening, Hirschfeld allowed three runs on five hits for a no decision against Dayton on July 13. Hirschfeld made one appearance and got the win against the Timber Rattlers in the first half. On April 18 at Pohlman Field, he faced one batter and got the final out of the top of the fifth inning to keep Beloit in front 5-3. The game was stopped by rain two batters into the bottom of the fifth inning and not resumed. Hirschfeld was the starting pitcher for the Snappers in the game that was suspended by rain in Grand Chute on July 7. He allowed two runs in three innings before rain stopped that game. The July 7 game will be restarted on July 27 at 5:05pm on Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.