Offensive Struggles Continue, Quad Cities Drops Third-Straight

Beloit, Wisconsin – The Quad Cities River were held to just one run for the second-straight night on Friday, as they dropped their third game in-a-row 2-1 to the Beloit Sky Carp at ABC Supply Stadium.

After stretching his season-opening shutout streak to 16.0 innings with a pair of scoreless frames to start the night, the Sky Carp broke through against Bandits’ starter Frank Mozzicato in the third and took a 1-0 lead on Jake Thompson’s RBI single. Beloit tacked on another with Jake DeLeo’s RBI-groundout two batters later.

At the plate the River Bandits had little answer for Sky Carp starter Karon Milbrandt, who tossed a season-high 6.0 innings with seven strikeouts, including at one point a stretch of six in-a-row.

Quad Cities managed to scratch one run across against the Marlins No. 6 prospect (MLB Pipeline) in the sixth when Carter Jensen plated Jean Ramirez with a sac-fly to trim Beloit’s lead to 2-1, but the Bandits would fail to record a hit and struck out seven times against the Sky Carp bullpen over the game’s final three innings.

Despite the stagnant offense, Oscar Rayo and Ben Sears kept Quad Cities in the game late, combining for 3.0-scoreless innings and five strikeouts in relief of Mozzicato.

A quality start earned Milbrant (1-1) his first win of the season for the Sky Carp, while Mozzicato (1-1) was saddled with his first loss, allowing two runs over 5.0 innings with four strikeouts. Relievers Edgar Sanchez (1) and Tyler Eckburg (3) earned holds, as each worked a scoreless frame before Dale Stanavich (1) picked up his first save of 2024 with a perfect ninth.

Needing a pair of wins over the weekend to split the six-game series, the River Bandits will continue the set on Saturday afternoon. Henry Williams (1-0, 3.93) is scheduled to get the start for Quad Cities opposite Beloit’s Ike Buxton (0-2, 3.60). First pitch at ABC Supply Stadium is set for 1:05 p.m.