Quad Cities Secures Series Over Beloit

Beloit, Wisconsin – The Quad Cities River Bandits took 20 at-bats with men in scoring position Sunday, as they topped the Beloit Sky Carp 9-3 to claim their six-game series at ABC Supply Stadium.

While Beloit would jump out to 1-0 lead against Oscar Rayo in the first inning, the left-hander faced just two over the minimum during his effort’s final four frames, including a season-high and career-high matching eight strikeouts.

The Bandits bats came to Rayo’s aid in the third, tying the game on Dustin Dickerson’s RBI-groundout before Spencer Nivens put Quad Cities ahead 2-1 with an RBI-single, his fourth go-ahead RBI in as many games.

Despite giving up the lead, Sky Carp starter Ike Buxton returned to the hill for the fourth, but ran into more trouble. The right-hander permitted the first three batters of the frame to reach, allowing Deivis Nadal to score Justin Johnson with a sacrifice-fly. After Dickerson followed with an RBI-single, Jac Caglianone struck for a three-run blast—his second as a River Bandit—to put the Bandits up 7-1 and knock Buxton from the game.

Holt Jones finished off the fourth for his starter, but surrendered a run of his own in the fifth on a Kyle Hayes’ RBI-double. Carson Roccaforte then pushed the Bandits advantage to 9-1 in the sixth, plating Caglianone with an RBI-single off Justin Storm.

Beloit got back into the run column against Chazz Martinez in the seventh, closing the gap to 9-3 on Gage Millers’ two-run triple, but it would be their last gasp, as Andrew Morones and Ben Sears pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth to close out the game.

Rayo (4-0) earned the win for the Bandits and shrunk his season’s ERA to 2.20, while Buxton (2-7) was saddled with the loss, allowing seven runs over 3.2 innings.

Quad Cities returns to Davenport for a six-game series against the Lansing Lugnuts beginning Tuesday, August 20 at Modern Woodmen Park. First pitch for the series opener is set for 6:30 p.m.