Beloit Sky Carp drop finale against Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

BELOIT — A strong start to Sunday’s series finale with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers wasn’t enough to prevent one of the more frustrating finishes.

Wisconsin didn’t collect its first hit until two outs in the fourth inning and trailed 2-0 before tying the game with runs in the eighth and ninth and then tacking on three in the 10th for a 5-3 victory at ABC Supply Stadium.

The Timber Rattlers won the competitive series 4-2.

“Every loss is frustrating for sure,” said Beloit third baseman Johnny Olmstead, who was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, including his 11th home run of the season. “We fought back as a team and had some good at-bats in that last inning. We just fell short. We’ll come back Tuesday and go after it again and try to turn things around.”

The Sky Carp head out on the road for the next two weeks, facing the Lake County Captains for six games before heading to West Michigan to play the Whitecaps for six.

Several Beloit pitchers were stellar Sunday and Olmstead clearly stood out among the position players. After Mark Coley II led off the Beloit first with a triple, Olmstead knocked him in with a sacrifice fly. In the third, Olmstead belted a solo homer over the left field fence for a 2-0 lead.

Even his outs were hard hit, including a line shot in the 10th with Coley on second that Timber Rattlers center fielder Luis Lara ranged to his left and made a leaping grab on.

“I’d been kind of streaky for the past few weeks and I’m trying to keep it simple and stay to the big part of the field and put good wood on the ball,” said Olmstead, who is hitting .257. “You can’t control what happens after that. As long as you pick out the right pitches and hit the center of the barrel that’s all you can be worried about.”

Unfortunately, after the early runs, Beloit didn’t manage a third until Josh Zamora drove in Coley in the 10th. But that was the extent of the offense and Wisconsin, after that ice-cold start, outhit the Sky Carp 9-6.

Beloit starter Alex Williams was outstanding, allowing just one hit in four scoreless innings. Nigel Belgrave and Josh Ekness followed with scoreless innings in relief.

Evan Taylor replaced Belgrave in the eighth and Eduarqui Fernandez greeted him with a single. Lara lined out to second baseman Carlos Santiago, but Eduardo Garcia singled and Luke Adams was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Matthew Wood grounded to first baseman Brock Vradenburg, who threw to Olmstead covering second for a forceout as a run scored. Felix Valerio grounded out to end the threat with Beloit still up 2-1.

Josh White came on to pitch the ninth for Beloit and was in immediate trouble as Ramon Rodriguez singled and Tayden Hall walked. Jheremy Vargas lined out to center fielder Osiris Johnson, but White threw a wild pitch to move up the runners. Fernandez then singled to right, scoring Rodriguez. Hall was tagged out at the plate by catcher Cameron Barstad on a throw from Coley. A flyout ended the inning with the score 2-2.

It was Ignacio Feliz’s turn to try to halt the comeback in the 10th with Lara the automatic runner at second. Garcia ripped an RBI double down the left field line and then the inning really unraveled as Adams was again hit by a pitch and after a successful sac bunt, Felix Varerio collected a two-run single for a 5-2 lead.

Beloit could only answer with a single run in the bottom of the inning.

“Whenever you get out to a little quick lead you want to keep tacking (runs) on and we weren’t able to do that to give our bullpen some breathing room,” Olmstead said. “You just have to move forward now and keep a positive outlook.”

• SATURDAY RECAP: A sellout crowd of 3,150 saw a Sky Carp rally fall just short in a 3-2 loss to the Rattlers.

The game was tied 1-1 in the fifth inning when a two-out, two-run double by Fernandez put the Timber Rattlers on top.

Beloit drew within 3-2 on an RBI groundout by Torin Montgomery in the eighth and had the tying runner on third base in the ninth, but left him stranded.

Emmett Olson took the loss, allowing three hits and three runs over five innings of work. Beloit relievers Edgar Sanchez and Kyle Crigger each threw two scoreless innings.

Jorge Caballero was 3-for-4 and Coley 3-for-5 to lead Beloit’s 10-hit attack. Coley had a triple and Caballero a double.

The Timber Rattlers had only five hits, including a solo home run by Hall.

The sellout was Beloit’s fifth of the season, a Sky Carp record. ABC Supply sponsored the Make-A-Wish Night event.

• FRIDAY RECAP: Coley led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a walk-off home run to left field as Beloit edged Wisconsin 5-4 on Friday in front of 2,007 fans.

The Carp led 2-0 on a two-out, two-run triple by Jake DeLeo in the fourth inning, but the Timber Rattlers tied it in the fifth.

The back-and-forth game saw Beloit regain the lead in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of an error, but the Rattlers tied it in the seventh. That pattern was repeated when Cam Barstad’s sacrifice fly in the eighth put the Sky Carp up 4-3 only to see the Rattlers tie it up in the top of the ninth.

Jacob Miller started for the Sky Carp and allowed two runs in five innings. Yeuris Jimenez and Xavier Meachem each threw two innings of relief with Meachem (1-2) picking up the win.

DeLeo was 2-for-4 with a triple as Beloit won despite being outhit 10-5.

• SUNDAY’S BOXSCORE:

WISCONSIN 5, BELOIT 3

Wis;000;000;011;3;--;5;9;2

Beloit;010;000;000;1;--;3;6;0

WISCONSIN (ab-r-h-rbi) — Lara, cf, 5-1-0-0; Garcia, ss, 5-1-2-1; Adams, 3b, 1-1-0-0; Wood, dh, 3-0-0-1; Acosta, pr, 0-0-0-0; Valerio, lf, 5-0-2-2; Rodriguez, c, 4-1-2-0;Hall, 1b, 3-0-0-0; Vargas, 2b, 5-0-0-0; Fernandez, rf, 5-1-3-1. Totals: 36-5-9-5.

BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Coley, rf, 4-2-1-0; Olmstead, ss, 4-1-2-2; Zamora, 3b, 5-0-1-1; Vradenburg, 1b, 3-0-1-0; Caballero, lf, 5-0-0-0; Santiago, 2b, 5-0-0-0; Montgomery, dh, 2-0-0-0; Barstad, c, 4-0-1-0; Johnson, cf, 4-0-0-0. Totals: 36-3-6-3.

E: Garcia. DP: Wis 1. LOB: Wis 11, Bel 10. 2B: Garcia. 3B: Coley. HR: Olmstead (11). SF: Olmstead. Sac: Acosta. SB: Rodriguez (5). CS: Fernandez.

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Wis, Rudy 5.0-3-2-2-3-7; Rodriguez 1.0-0-0-0-0-2; Manfredi 1.0-1-0-0-1-1; Root (W,3-1) 2.1-2-1-0-1-0; Costello (S,4) 0.2-0-0-0-0-1. Bel, Williams 4.0-1-0-0-2-4; Ekness 1.0-1-0-0-0-0; Belgrave 2.0-0-0-0-1-1; Taylor 1.0-2-1-1-0-0; White 1.0-2-1-1-1-0; Feliz (L,4-1) 1.0-3-3-2-1-1.

WP: White 2. HBP Wood by Belgrave, Adams 2 (by Taylor, by Feliz).

T:2:51. Att. 1,735.