Bandits Split Twin Bill with Loons, Claim Series

Midland, Michigan – The Quad Cities River Bandits won their first six-game series since April, splitting Sunday’s doubleheader with the Great Lakes Loons at Dow Diamond.

Game one was the series clincher for Quad Cities, as the Bandits scored five runs over the game’s final three innings for a 7-1 win. The club used a Loons error to take a 2-0 lead in the second, and while Kyle Nevin’s fourth-inning home run cut the advantage in half, Carter Jensen left the yard on the first pitch of the next half inning to put the Bandits back up by two.

Carson Roccaforte, Jean Ramirez, Brett Squires, and Chris Brito all recorded RBI singles over Quad Cities’ next six outs to jump ahead by seven after six.

Despite allowing a season-high matching four walks, Ben Kudrna (3-4) only allowed one run over 5.0 innings and earned the win. Chazz Martinez and Connor Fenlong followed the right-hander’s effort with a pair of scoreless frames in relief.

Pitching dominated game two, with neither team scoring until the extra eighth inning. Oscar Rayo went toe-to-toe with the Dodgers’ top left-handed prospect, Jackson Ferris, and only allowed three base runners while striking out five in a scoreless 5.0-inning start.

After Ben Sears pushed the game to extras with back-to-back shutout frames, Quad Cities failed to score the placed runner in the top of the eighth. With aid from a pair of intentional walks, Great Lakes would load the bases in the bottom half and while Chase Wallace would strike out Nevin with two outs, a dropped third strike/passed ball off the glove of Omar Hernandez allowed the winning run to score from third and secure a 1-0 victory for the Loons.

Quad Cities continues its two-week road trip in Peoria, with the first of six games against the Chiefs scheduled for 6:35pm at Dozer Park.