Pitcher’s Duel in Beloit

A week ago, the Snappers beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-0 in a game that didn’t see any scoring until the eighth inning.  Joe Testa started for the Snappers and pitched the first three innings before giving way to Bradley Tippett (I assume this was by design, because Testa certainly wasn’t struggling – his line:  3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 SO, 0 BB).

Tippett picked up right where Testa left off (his line: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 SO, 1 BB) and completely shut down the Timber Rattlers lineup.  The only hit off Tippett was an infield hit due to a poor throw by the third baseman (picture), and each Snappers pitcher only faced one hitter over the minimum in their outing.

The picture below was the theme of the day, it seemed like the ump had a large strike zone and all the pitchers (Beloit and Wisconsin) were dealing pretty good.

Wisconsin would end up winning the strikeout race – starter Wily Peralta would strike out 10 in six innings (including five straight and eight of ten Snappers in innings 3 through 5) – but with neither team scoring it was clear the first team to score would win.

Wisconsin Pitchers -

Beloit Pitchers -

Beloit finally broke through in the eighth inning against the Timber Rattlers bullpen.  It started off with back-to-back one-out walks, which brought up James Beresford who delivered a line drive off the third baseman’s glove that scored the eventual game winner.

The inning snowballed from there for the Snappers, with a two-run single from Ramon Santana (see picture) and a sacrifice fly from Jon Waltenbury.

It was a fantastic game to watch. Both teams played excellent defense, pitched extremely well, and then we got to see a dramatic late-inning rally and a Snappers win. An ideal day at the ballpark. (Here’s a link to all of our photos from the game)