Yeiner Fernandez’s Single Walks-Off River Bandits

MIDLAND, Mich. – The Great Lakes Loons (16-10) secured a series win after a clash with the Quad Cities River Bandits (10-15) that went 10 innings and was won by a Yeiner Fernandez RBI single to center field to make it a 7-6 triumph on a cloudy Saturday at Dow Diamond. The contest saw six lead changes and 21 combined hits.

Great Lakes started the action with two runs in the first inning. Austin Gauthier led off with a walk, his first of two. Dalton Rushing singled to put runners on the corners. With two outs Taylor Young singled to open the scoring. Young during the next at-bat had a sizeable lead. The threat of the Loons' leading base stealer aboard brought a throw from the catcher to first that ended up in right field and made it 2-0.

Ronan Kopp started his sixth game of the season, completing three innings. The left-hander permitted just two hits both though delivering runs. With a solo homer in the second and RBI single in the third, the tying run was the third of three walks for Kopp. The No. 20 Dodgers prospect according to MLB Pipeline struck out four.

Robbie Peto entered in the fourth inning, and the first pitch he threw was lifted over the left field fence by Juan Carlos Negret. Peto retired the next three on seven pitches.

Mason Barnett bounced back tossing a scoreless second and third inning. The Loons reclaimed the advantage in the bottom of the fourth, Jake Vogel singled, and Chris Alleyne doubled to put two in scoring position. Austin Gauthier drove in his seventh run of the series, on a sacrifice fly to tie up the game. Alleyne whizzed home after a wild pitch.

In the sixth, Quad Cities found the equalizer. After a 6-3 double play that ended the fifth and left one in scoring position, Jack Alexander knocked home Sherven Newton. Both men got base knocks with two-strike counts.

The game was tied at four, moving into the seventh. The River Bandits put together their lone multi-run inning, scoring two on four hits. Javier Vaz led off with a 395-foot blast over the right field fence. Two singles and an RBI double followed to push Peto out of the game. Antonio Knowles collected the final three outs and kept the deficit at two.

The Loons got those two runs right back in the bottom of the seventh. With runners on the corners, and two outs, Yeiner Fernandez sent the first of his two RBI singles, to centerfield. Taylor Young followed and scored Dalton Rushing on his second RBI single, score then was 6-6.

Quad Cities had the go-ahead run 90 feet away in the eighth. Paxton Wallace tripled down the right-field line to begin the inning. Antonio Knowles forced a flyout, strikeout, and groundout to escape unscathed.

The ninth inning saw the minimum for both sides, the Loons' Aldry Acosta got a 5-4-3 double play, and Anderson Paulino of the River Bandits struck out two. Acosta in the tenth, extended his scoreless inning streak to a team-high 11 straight, leaving the ghost runner at second after two groundouts and a flyout.

Yeiner Fernandez wasted no time in the bottom of the tenth, slicing the 1-0 from Paulino past the middle infielders and completing the walk-off victory and series win for Great Lakes.

The series concludes Sunday, May 7th, with a 1:05 first pitch. On Sundays, kids eat free, as children 12 and under receive a free hot dog meal presented by EGLE. Additionally, Sunday is Foster Care Awareness Day Presented By the Department of Health & Human Services - Midland & Gladwin Counties.

The Great Lakes Loons have been the Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.