Wisconsin Steals Game Two; Sweeps Quad Cities for West Division Title

Appleton, Wisconsin – The Quad Cities River Bandits took a two-run lead into the ninth inning Thursday, but the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers scored three in the ninth to walk-off the Bandits and secure a 2-0 sweep of the Midwest League West Division Championship Series.

Wisconsin opened the scoring in the third, taking a 2-0 lead on a two-run home run off the bat of Luke Adams, but Quad Cities would string together a three-run fifth. After Spencer Nivens got the Bandits on the board with an RBI-single, Jac Caglianone put the Bandits ahead 3-2 with a two-run knock to right field.

Starter Ethan Bosacker kept the advantage intact and closed out his 5.0-inning performance with a clean bottom of the fifth, before handing the ball to Nate Ackenhausen. The left-hander tossed a scoreless sixth, but allowed Eduardo Garcia aboard in the seventh. Chase Isbell then took over and allowed a game-tying RBI-double to Jheremy Vargas.

The tie didn’t last long though, as Sherveyn Newton struck for an RBI-double off Aaron Rund to push the Bandits back ahead 4-3 in the top of the eighth.

Ramon Rodriguez re-tied the game 4-4 with an RBI-double against Chazz Martinez in the bottom half, but a Nivens sacrifice-fly and an error put Quad Cities back up 6-4 in the top of the ninth and three outs away from pushing the series to a Game Three rubber match.

Ben Sears, who helped Martinez through the remainder of the eighth, allowed both Tayden Hall and Jheremy Vargas to reach in the bottom of the ninth, before a pinch-hit single off the bat of Hedbert Perez loaded the bases with no one out.

Luis Lara cut it to a 6-5 Bandits’ lead with an RBI fielder’s choice and then stole second base. Cooper Pratt followed with a game-tying RBI-single, but Sam Kulasingam threw out Lara—the game-winning run—at home to keep the game alive.

The next batter, Adams, completed the comeback though and blooped an RBI-single into right field, scoring Pratt for the walk-off winner.

Bayden Root (1-0) surrendered both Quad Cities’ runs in the ninth, but earned the win, while Sears (0-1) was pegged with the loss, allowing three runs on four hits in 1.0 inning.

The loss ended Quad Cities’ season, while Wisconsin will meet the Eastern Division Champion Lake County Captains in the 2024 Midwest League Championship series, beginning Sunday, September 15 at Fox Cities Stadium.