Bandits Void of Fireworks in Series Finale Loss

Davenport, Iowa – After securing their seventh series win of the season last night, the Quad Cities River Bandits were shutout for eight innings on July 4, as they fell to the Cedar Rapids Kernels 9-3 on Sunday at Modern Woodmen Park.

The first six innings of the contest featured a pitcher’s duel and a combined four hits with each team mustering just a pair.

In his third start of the season, Noah Murdock gave the Bandits three shutout frames with a trio of strikeouts before handing the ball to Christian Chamberlain, who went three-up three-down in the fourth and stranded Edouard Julien’s walk in the sixth.

For the Kernels, it was Jon Olsen who worked five shutout innings and scattered a pair of hits from Vinnie Pasquantino in five innings of work, including two punchouts and ended up facing three over the minimum.

Chamberlain and newly entered Derek Molina each tossed a clean sixth, with the latter setting down the top of the Q.C. lineup in order. But in the top of the seventh, Cedar Rapids’ bats exploded as the visitors brought 11 men to the plate.

DaShawn Keirsey Jr. got the scoring started by racing home on a Chamberlain wild pitch, before singles by Kyle Schmidt and Max Smith chased the lefty after three innings to bring in Mitch Ellis, who struck out Yeltsin Encarnacion for the first out.

However, one batter later, Daniel Ozoria’s RBI single put two men on for Julien, who scorched his second homer of the year to right-center field and blew the game open 5-0.

With Ellis still on the hill and now two men on—Alex Isola and Michael Hellman who both singled—Keirsey Jr. made it 7-0 and struck again with a bases-clearing triple.

Quad Cities managed its third hit of the night in the bottom of the seventh, a single by John Rave, and a walk by Tucker Bradley in the eighth, but couldn’t crack into the run column against Molina or Erik Manoah Jr..

In the top of the ninth, the visitors added insult to injury on Hellman’s two-run blast against Yohanse Morel, but the Bandits didn’t go down without a fight in their final frame.

Having just three hits entering the bottom of the ninth, Quad Cities saw five consecutive men reach against Melvi Acosta on four hits and a walk, including RBI knocks from Jake Means, Eric Cole, and John Rave. But with the bases loaded and one out, Brian Dinkelman turned to Zach Featherstone who struck out Bradley and got Nick Loftin to fly out to end the game.

Molina (5-1) earned the win for Cedar Rapids with two scoreless innings, while Cosby (1-1) took the loss after surrendering three in the Kernels’ seven-run seventh.

The River Bandits will take Monday off before traveling to Wisconsin for the first leg of their 12-game road trip and will kick off a series with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Tuesday, July 6. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CDT at Fox Cities Stadium.