Snappers swept

Lansing 11 at Beloit 8

W: B. Letko (3-3, 3.70); L: S. Hirschfeld (7-4, 4.03); SV: T. Collins (11)
HR: LAN: J. Tolisano (6).

About the time Steve Hirshfeld was giving up 8 runs for the Beloit Snappers in the 2nd inning of Sunday's contest, I was sitting at the drink rail in Hammond Stadium trying to remember who the fifth member of the Beloit rotation was. How could I forget?

Hirschfeld would probably like to forget Sunday's performance.

Manuel Rodriguez, Jonathan Jaspe, John Tollsano, Johermyn Chavez, and Moises Sierra all took singles off Hirschfelt to start the top of the 2nd inning, which put three runs on the board. Darin Mastroianni doubled to add a fourth before Justin Jackson ground out, adding a fifth. A fielder's choice allowed Raul Barron to reach and took Mastroianni out at home. Dave Cooper singled and Rodriguez, batting around the order, doubled to add six and seven. Jaspe's single to center plated Rodriguez for the 8th run before Tolisano finally lined out to center.

Mark Dolenc tripled in the bottom of the stanza and came home on a Yangervis Solarte ground out to put the Snappers on the board. It seemed almost a footnote after the top of the inning.

Sierra would reach in the 3rd on a fielding error by Juan Richardson. After Mastroianni flew out, Jackson doubled Sierra in for the Lugnuts 9th run.

Back-to-back singles by Rene Leveret and Dolenc, combined with a fielding error by Sierra, put Leveret over the plate for the second Snappers run. Solarte would ground out, plating Dolenc. It was going to take a lot of chipping away for the Snappers to get out of that hole, but chip they did.

Chris Anderson replaced Hirschfeld for the fifth and allowed a double to Chavez. He'd be taken out at 3rd though on a fielder's choice. Mastroianni would then fly into a double play to to end the inning.

The Lugnuts made a pitching change in the sixth, with Joe Wice replacing Brian Letko on the mound. Newly reactivated Paul Kelly doubled and Leveret singled. Dolenc would hit into a double play at scored Kelly to make it 9-4 Lansing.

With one out on the board in the top of the 7th, Jaspe walked and Tolisano launched his sixth home run of the season over the left field wall to add the final pair to the Lugnuts total. Chavez would go down on strike sand Sierra walk before Michael Allen came in to replace Anderson getting Mastroianni to ground into a force out to retire the side.

Michael Barbara took to the mound in the bottom of the 8th, and after getting Chris Cates to pop out, allowed a double to Kelly. Leveret singled to plate Kelly to make it 11-5 Luggies.

Allan de San Miguel singled to start out the ninth inning rally. Richardson followed it up with a single of his own and Andrew Schmiesing's ground out advanced the runners. Jeanfred Brito singled to plate de San Miguel, and Cates doubled in Richardson and Brito. Tim Collins would take over the mound for the Lugnuts at that point and would get Kelly and Leveret to both ground out, ending the inning, with Beloit still down by three.

Brito and Dolenc were both 2-for-4 at the plate, Brito with a walk a run and a RBI, and Dolenc with a triple and a pair of runs. Leveret finished up 3-for-5 with a run and a RBI, while Kelly, serving as the designated hitter, was 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles, and a pair of runs. Cates would go 1-for-4 at the plate with a walk, a double and a pair of runs scored. Richardson and Dirty were both 1-for-3 with a run, Richardson with a walk as well.

Hirschfeld's final line score was 9 runs, 8 earned, on 10 hits and 2 walks while fanning 2 over 4 innings.

The 3-game losing streak puts Beloit at 21-22 on the season, sixth in the 8-team Western division, 4.5 games out of first.

Beloit takes Monday off before heading out on the road for a four-game series against the Kane County Cougars. Tuesday's game begins at 6:30 PM.

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Kelly Activated from DL

The Minnesota Twins have activated Paul Kelly from the disabled list in time for today's game between the Snappers and Lansing Lugnuts. Kelly is coming off of a right hamstring injury sustained in the June 20th game against the Peoria Chiefs. Before he was injured, Paul played in just two games for the Snappers with four hits in six at-bats.

Kelly played for the Snappers during parts of the '05 and '06 seasons, making the Midwest League All-Star team in 2006. From there, the infielder battled a left knee injury that kept him out of the majority of the 2007 season, and the first half of the '08 season.

Prior to this season, Kelly had a career batting average of .280 with 30 doubles and 73 RBIs in 142 minor league games. The Twins' 2nd round pick in the 2005 First-Year Player draft is a graduate of Flower Mound (TX) High School.

The move puts the Beloit active roster at 25. (Snappers)

Hirschfeld, Revere lead Snappers against T-Rattlers

Wisconsin 2 at Beloit 7

W: S. Hirschfeld (6-2, 2.64); L: K. Meyer (0-3, 4.79)
HR: None.

Steve Hirschfeld scattered four hits and a walk over 7 innings and struck out 8, holding the visiting Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to only one run, to lead the Beloit Snappers to a 7-2 win.

Daniel Carroll singled of Hirschfeld and stole 2nd to open up the game. Edilio Colina moved him on a sac-bunt and one out later Ronald Garth singled to plate him. A fielding error by Ben Revere put Garth to on 2nd, and Joseph Dunigan took a walk, but Hirschfeld got Juan Diaz to fly out to center to retire the T-Rattlers.

The bottom of the third saw Andrew Schmiesing single, then move to 2nd on Estarlin De Los Santos sac bunt. Chris Cates would be called out on strikes, but a Ben Revere single saw Schmiesing score to tie up the game.

Keith Meyer would replace Brett Lorin in the bottom of the sixth for Wisconsin and the Snappers took advantage of the pitching change. Ben Revere and Juan Richardson lead off with back-to-back singles. Mark Dolenc would then get plunked by a pitch to load up the bags. A Jeanfred Brito single scored Revere before Greg Yersich went down on strikes. Allan de San Miguel got hit by a pitch to load up the bags again. The Timber Rattlers got Natividad Dilone out of the bullpen to get the out of the jam, but he'd walk Schmiesing to force in a run before getting De Lo to ground into a double play.

In the bottom of the 7th, Chris Cates would single, moved to second on Revere's sac bunt and to 3rd on balk. Juan Richardson then sacrificed him in to add another run to the Snappers total, for a 5-1 advantage.

Brito and Yersch opened up the bottom of the 8th with back-to-back walks while Dilone walked back to the dugout and Jeff Dunbar took his place on the mound. Dirty's sac-bunt advanced the runners and a sac-fly by Schmiesing brought in Brito. De Lo then singled to plate Yersich to end Beloit's offense for the game.

Danny Hernandez worked one inning of relief, walking 2 and striking out 2. He'd be replaced by Charles Nolte at the top of the 9th. Notle would hit Garth with a pitch, and Alex Meneses came into run for the T-Rattlers designated hitter. A Dunigan single and a Diaz ground out plated Meneses for a brief T-Rattlers rally. Notle then got Alex Liddi and Isreal Nunez to ground out, ending the contest.

Revere and Brito finished up 2-for-3 with a run and run scored each. Richardson, Dolence and Yersich were all 1-for-3 with a run, Richardson with a RBI and Dolenc with a walk. Schmiesing was 1-for-2 with a walk, a run and 2 RBIs, and De Lo finished up 1-for-4 with a run scored. Cates was 1-for-5 with a run.

Game two of the series is Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM. Mike Tarsi (4-9, 5.50) will throw out the first pitch while the T-Rattlers will throw Jake Wild (3-6, 4.45) at the Snappers.

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T-Rattlers

Beloit remains in the hunt for a second half playoff berth. They have a 17-11 record and are 1.5 games behind division leading Peoria and 2 games ahead of Cedar Rapids. Revere continues to lead the team batting wise, followed by Rene Leveret.

How sweep it is

Tampa 1 at Fort Myers 2

W: M. Fox (4-3, 3.65); L: I. Nova (3-10, 4.92); SV: A. Slama (17)
HR: FTM: E. Tintor (3).

After 24 scoreless innings dating back to the June 30th game against the Palm Beach Cardinals, the Tampa Yankees were VERY happy to see C.J. Henry cross the plate at Hammond Stadium Thursday night in front of a sold out Independence Day crowd.

The Fort Myers Miracle didn't exactly sympathize with their joy.

Henry would take a walk off the Miracle's Matt Fox. After Fox got Tim Battle to strike out and Edwardo Nunez to fly out, Henry would steal 2nd. Luis Nunez tripled to drive him in amidst much celebration in the Yankees dugout.

The run however tied up the game. The Miracle had take a slim lead in the bottom of the 4th, when Edward Ovalle singled, then stole 2nd. Danny Berg took a walk before Eli Tintor singled to score Ovalle.

The Yankees happiness was short lived however. Tintor put this 3rd home run of the year over the left field wall in the seventh to give the Miracle the lead again.

Reliever Ozzie Sosa and closer Anthony Slama would ensure that they kept it.

Fox would pick up the win, allowing only 1 run on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 3 over 7 innings. For Slama it would his FSL leading 17th save of the season.

Tintor finished up 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of RBIs. Ovalle was 1-for-4 with a run. Steve Singleton was 1-for-3 with a walk. Olson was also 1-for-3 and took one for the team when Tampa's Ivan Nova plunked him with a pitch in the 7th.

With the sweep, and their sixth straight win, the Miracle are now 8-6 in the second half, good for 2nd place in the FSL West division and trailing Dunedin by one game.

While the Miracle faithful will finish up their three-day holiday with Bar-B-Ques and Red, White and BOOM over the river, the Miracle will head over to Lakeland to face the Flying Tigers for three days worth of fireworks games. Friday's contest kicks off at 5:00 PM with Cole Devries (6-6, 2.77) on the mound for the Miracle.

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Miracle
News Press
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NDN - Notes

Correction: I reported yesterday that Whit Robbins had not been put on the DL. I was in fact incorrect and missed the transaction. He was placed on the 7 day DL on June 27th.



Clinton 7 at Beloit 2

W: J. Ortiz (1-0, 2.25); L: L. Van Mil (2-1, 3.03)
HR: CLI: J. Greene (12), M. Lawson (3).

Loek Van Mil might be 7'1" tall, but right now he probably feels somewhat shorter than a yard stick after giving up 4 runs on a pair of hit and a pair of walks in .2 innings.

The funny thing is, he pitch well enough in the 8th, allowing only one single and striking out 1.

The offensive outburst from the Clinton Lumber Kings gave them a 7-2 lead in the 9th inning, good for the win as the Beloit Snappers couldn't find five runs in the bottom of the final stanza to counter them with.

Clinton would get on the board first when Mike Tarsi would hit Jonathan Greene with a pitch. Timothy Smith singled and Christian Santana doubled to plate Greene before Tarsi could find the final two outs.

The Snapper answered back however with Allen de san Miguel singling his way onto base and moving to second on an Andrew Schmiesing single. Chris Cates sac-bunt moved the runners into scoring position, and a single by newcomer Jeanfred Brito pushed Dirty over the plate.

Greene would take Tarsi yard in the top of the seventh for this 12th home run of the year, putting the ball over the left field fence.

Fabio Castillo would replace Clinton's Derek Holland on the mound for the bottom of the inning and after getting Dirty out on strikes, walked Schmiesing and Cates. A wild pitch move the pair. Birto would line out and Estarlin De Los Santos would take a walk. Deibinson Romero's line drive would plate Schmiesing to tie up the game again.

Then came the top of the 9th. Mitchell Moreland would fly out before Greene took a walk off Van Mil. Timothy Smith flew out. Greene would then steal 2nd. Van Mil would walk Santana and then allowing a single to Carlos Domingues that scored Greene for the game winning run. A second single, this one to Kyle Murch brought in Santana. Danny Hernandez would then be called in from the bullpen and allowed a home run to Matthew Lawson. The ball, which cleared the left field fence, would mark Lawson's 3rd round trip of the season. Two of the runners were inherited and counted on Van Mil, Hernandez was only charged for Lawson's yarder.

Beloit managed only 4 hits in the game with Rene Leveret picking up the one hit wonder title without factoring into the scoring.

The Snappers will seek their Independence over Clinton on Friday with a 7:00 PM Fireworks game. Then then head out on the road for a three-game set against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

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Snappers
Thursday:
Herald
Gazette
BDN
BDN - Fireworks
Wednesday:
Herald