HULETT TURNS UMPIRE FOR A GAME!    
. . . WHAT WAS THAT?

Posted July 25, 2005
Timber Rattlers’ victory has it all

By Mike Leifeld
Post-Crescent staff writer

GRAND CHUTE — With all the crazy things that happened to them, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers were just happy they came out on the winning end of a 13-9 score against the Clinton Lumber- Kings at Fox Cities Stadium on Sunday.

The Rattlers built a 10-2 lead through three innings, but by then the game had already taken some interesting twists.

In the bottom of the second, Clinton catcher Craig Hurba argued a balls and strikes call with home plate umpire Garrett Wilson. Hurba was quickly ejected from the game, which prompted him to hurl his mask toward third base and his catcher’s helmet to the backstop. When he was escorted to the dugout, he continued his tirade, heaving a trash can onto the playing field.

Wisconsin’s Marshall Hubbard, who was up to bat, generously cleaned up Hurba’s mess and then drove the next pitch he saw into center field for an RBI single.

The ejection was Clinton’s fourth of the series. Manager Carlos Subero was tossed in consecutive games Friday and Saturday, and third baseman Emerson Frostad also got the heave Saturday.

“When you say certain things, they’re automatic (ejections),” Wilson said. “All four ejections we had were automatics.”

The third inning got even crazier. With runners on second and third, Oswaldo Navarro ducked to avoid being hit by a pitch. The ball struck his bat, however, and somehow made its way into fair territory.

Navarro took off for first and the pitcher picked up the ball and fired it over the first baseman’s head, scoring two runners and sending Navarro to second.

“It was a situation where he ducks on a 3-0 pitch, it hits the bat and goes fair and ends up almost like a drag bunt for crying out loud,” Rattlers manager Scott Steinmann said. “We had a lot of things go our way today.”

Later in the inning, there was a 15-minute delay when Wilson had to be helped off the field after getting injured.

“The catcher and pitcher got crossed up and I caught a fastball right above the shin guard,” he said. “It’s not broken, but it’s a real bad bruise.”

According to Midwest League rules, when the plate umpire leaves the game, the field umpire moves behind the plate and one player from each team must act as the field umpires.

Wisconsin’s Cibney Bello and Clinton’s Tug Hulett served as the day’s replacement umpires.

“It is the first time in my life,” Bello said, laughing. “It was really fun.”

The Rattlers led by nine runs in the fifth behind a strong pitching performance from Mark Lowe. Lowe pitched six innings, allowing one earned run on five hits. But the LumberKings hit Wisconsin relievers hard and turned it into a close game.

“We’ve had two extra-inning games already (in this series) and I was thinking no way is this going to happen again,” Lowe said. “This is the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of, no doubt. Everything that happened, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Clinton’s Ian Gac, who hit two home runs, had a chance to tie the game in the ninth. He came up to bat with the bases loaded and two outs, but Wisconsin’s Steve Grasley struck him out.

Game time: The Timber Rattlers will kick off a four-game homestand against the Kane County Cougars today at 7:05 p.m. at Fox Cities Stadium. Wisconsin’s Randy Frye (2-4, 8.10 ERA) is expected to face Joe Scott (1-1, 6.00) of Kane County.

Mike Leifeld