(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers stormed back from a 5-1 deficit to defeat the Lake County Captains 7-5 on Sunday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field. Eric Bitonti led the offense by going 4-for-4 with two homers and three RBI while Jacob Morrison kept Lake County in check with four scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
Tommy Hawke started the game with a single for the Captains (63-53 overall, 26 26 second half). He made it to third on a pair of infield ground outs. Jeffrey Mercedes blooped a single to right to score Hawke to give Lake County an early 1-0 lead.
Bitonti brought the Rattlers (62-53, 28-25) even with a two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the first to score Daniel Dickinson from third base.
A pair of one-out walks and a single loaded the bases for Lake County in the top of the second inning. Hawke singled to left to knock in the go-ahead run. Dauri Fernandez followed with a double to left that scored two more runs. A wild pitch by Andrew Healy let Hawke score for a 5-1 lead.
Bitonti accounted for Wisconsin’s second run when he hit another mammoth blast to right for a lead-off home run in the bottom of the fourth. The slugging left-handed infielder had twenty-one home runs on the season after that homer.
The Rattlers loaded the bases against Lake County starting pitcher Nelson Keljo on a double by Tayden Hall, a walk to Luis Castillo, and a one-out walk to Luis Lameda. Keljo left the game with a 5-2 lead after getting the second out of the inning.
Will McCausland balked before throwing a pitch to Brady Ebel to allow Hall to score. Ebel drove in Castillo and Lameda with a double to left-center to tie the game.
Bitonti struck again with a towering fly to right in the fifth inning that carried just over the wall for a go-ahead home run. That blast gave him 22 homers on the season and his third two-homer game of 2026. He is one homer shy of Braylon Payne’s franchise record with twelve games left in the season. Payne hit his 23rd home run of the season to set the record on August 8 at Beloit just before he was called up to Biloxi, the Double-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Dickinson added to the Wisconsin lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.
Morrison picked up the win out of the bullpen. He struck out six and faced one batter over the minimum in his four frames. The only blemish was a popup on the infield that was lost in the sun for a single. Morrison matched his professional single-game high for strikeouts with six.
The Captains had one last gasp in them as they loaded the bases in the eighth inning against José Nova. There were two out and a runner at second when Nova walked back-to-back hitters to load the bases. Michael Fowler was called in from the bullpen and got a strikeout to end the threat.
Fowler made sure there was no threat in the ninth as he retired the side in order to close out the game and earn his third save of the season.
Wisconsin matched their biggest comeback of the season by erasing a four-run deficit for the fourth time this season.
The Timber Rattlers are off on Monday. They return to action on Tuesday night with game one of a six-game series at Neuroscience Group Field against the South Bend Cubs. First pitch is 6:40pm CDT.
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