River Bandits Rattle Wisconsin in Series Finale

Appleton, Wisconsin – The Quad Cities River Bandits ended their final road tip of the regular season with their largest win of the summer, defeating the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 15-2 on Sunday afternoon at Fox Cities Stadium.

Matching their season-high for the second-straight ballgame, the Bandits struck for seven extra-base hits, including five doubles. After Dustin Dickerson drove in the game’s first run with a second-inning single off starter Mark Manfredi, Spencer Nivens and Jac Caglianone each struck for a pair of two-run two baggers against Yerlin Rodriguez to put Quad Cities ahead 5-0.

One inning later, the Bandits took advantage of an error and six Rattlers walks—including a bases-loaded free passes to Carson Roccaforte and Shervyen Newton. Justin Johnson highlighted the six-run inning with a three-run double before scoring on an error later in the frame.

The 11-0 lead was more than enough for starter Oscar Rayo, who struck out four and retired the first nine Wisconsin hitters he faced. The left-hander allowed both of the Rattlers’ runs on an RBI-double from Matt Wood and a sacrifice-fly off the bat of Eduarqui Fernandez, but they would wind up the only blemishes in his 4.0-inning performance.

Quad Cities did not waste much time getting the runs back and retook an 11-run lead on solo homers from Shervyen Newton (5) and Trevor Werner (10) in the sixth and seventh innings respectively, both off right-hander Brailin Rodriguez.

A Dikember Sanchez balk and the third hit of the day from Omar Hernandez, an RBI-single in the eighth, got the River Bandits to their 15-2 score.

Andrew Morones (1-0) earned his first professional win with a scoreless fifth and sixth inning, before Ben Hernandez (2.0 IP) and Ben Sears (1.0 IP) closed out the ballgame in the final third.

With a three-game lead over the Peoria Chiefs for the western division’s second half playoff spot, Quad Cities concludes its regular season with a six-game homestand against the Beloit Sky Carp beginning Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Modern Woodmen Park.