Bandits Take Series Opener Over Loons in Extras

Midland, Michigan – The Quad Cities River Bandits required an extra inning Tuesday, but defeated the Great Lakes Loons 7-6 in at Dow Diamond.

While starter Hunter Patteson kept the Loons off the scoreboard through the first third of the ballgame, Great Lakes eventually broke through in the fourth, taking a 3-0 lead on Yunior Garcia’s two-run homer and Noah Miller’s RBI-single.

Quad Cities’ bats needed five innings to not only break into the run column, but also record their first hit, as Great Lakes’ starter and the Dodgers’ top left-handed pitching prospect, Jackson Ferris struck out eight over 5.0-scoreless innings to open the night.

Jack Pineda checked both boxes for QC in the sixth and, after Ferris walked Dustin Dickerson to open the inning, launched a two-run opposite-field homer. Five batters later, with Brandon Neeck having taken over on the mound for the Loons, Carson Roccaforte put the Bandits in front 4-3 with a two-run single.

Great Lakes immediately responded in the next half-inning though and used a Trevor Werner error to set up Jake Vogel’s game-tying RBI single off Ryan Ramsey. The next batter, Miller, nearly put Great Lakes back in front, but Jared Dickey threw out Nelson Quiroz at the plate when the catcher tried to score on a sacrifice-fly.

With the game tied 4-4, neither team was able to score over the final three innings of regulation. Ramsey settled in to retire the final 10 batters he would face, while Great Lakes’ combo of Neeck, Jeisson Cabrera, Kelvin Ramirez stranded seven Bandits base runners, including the bases loaded in the seventh.

After Ramey sent the game to extras with a one-two-three ninth, the Bandits broke back into the run column courtesy of Dickerson, who struck for a bases-loaded, two-run single off Kelvin Bautista. Pineda then added an insurance run with a sac-fly for a 7-4 advantage.

While Great Lakes would not go quietly in the bottom half—cutting the lead to one on Chris Newell’s one-out, two-run single—Chase Wallace would close the door by retiring the game-tying run at the plate twice with a pair of fly balls and his first save of the season.

Ransey (1-2) earned the win for Quad Cities, striking out four with no walks and just two hits in his season-high matching 5.0-inning performance, while Bautista (3-3) was saddled with the loss for the Loons, surrendering the three-run tenth.

The River Bandits return to Dow Diamond for game two of the series tomorrow night, as Steven Zobac (4-4, 3.70) will get the start opposite Great Lakes’ Christian Romero (3-3, 3.42). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET.