Kernels Notch 17 Hits, Rout Quad Cities 11-5

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - The Cedar Rapids offense collected 17 hits Friday and scored 11 times to knock off Quad Cities for the third straight night, 11-5.

After falling behind 6-0 in the loss on loss on July 4, Quad Cities got on the board first Friday. To lead off the top of the first inning, Jack Pineda singled, and after a groundout moved him to second, he scored on a Jared Dickey RBI double to make it 1-0 River Bandits.

But that was the only Quad Cities lead of the night. In the bottom of the first frame, Rayne Doncon led off with a triple and came home to score a batter later on a Ricardo Olivar RBI single to tie the game at 1-1. After a hit-by-pitch, a walk loaded the bases for Nate Baez, who put Cedar Rapids on top with a two-run single. The next batter, Tyler Dearden, then increased the Kernels' lead to 4-1 with an RBI single.

In the second, Olivar knocked a one-out triple, and Gabriel Gonzalez made it a 5-1 Kernels lead with an RBI single.

After Quad Cities cut it to 5-3 with a pair of runs in the top of the third, the Kernels grabbed their largest lead of the night in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, back-to-back home runs by Gonzalez and Jay Harry put Cedar Rapids back up by four at 7-3. After a strikeout, Baez tripled and came home to score on a Dearden double to up the edge to 8-3.

In the seventh, Doncon smashed a one-out solo home run to grow the advantage to 9-3. Behind him, an Olivar walk, and a Gonzalez single put runners on the corners for Harry, who picked up his second RBI of the night with a sac fly.

After Quad Cities got back on the board with a run in the top of the eighth, Cedar Rapids collected its 11th run of the night in the bottom of the frame. After a Dearden double, he came home to score on a Misael Urbina RBI single to put the Kernels up 11-4.

The River Bandits scored a run in the top of the ninth, but it was too little too late in the Cedar Rapids 11-5 win.

John Klein picked up the win on the mound for Cedar Rapids. The Kernels’ starter posted his second quality start of the season, allowing just three runs across six innings of work.

The win improves the Kernels to 47-31 on the season and 10-4 in the second half. Cedar Rapids wraps up its series with Quad Cities Saturday at 6:35 with Christian MacLeod on the mound opposite Frank Mozzicato.