Quad Cities Wins Marathon Saturday in Extras 8-7
South Bend, IN - Chicago Cubs number-19 prospect Jaxon Wiggins made his Midwest League debut on the mound Saturday night for the South Bend Cubs, a much anticipated arrival to High-A for the 2023 second-round draft pick picking out of Arkansas. Wiggins impressed, but in a winding and weaving Saturday
South Bend, IN - Chicago Cubs number-19 prospect Jaxon Wiggins made his Midwest League debut on the mound Saturday night for the South Bend Cubs, a much anticipated arrival to High-A for the 2023 second-round draft pick picking out of Arkansas. Wiggins impressed, but in a winding and weaving Saturday night at Four Winds Field, the Quad Cities River Bandits skipped past the South Bend Cubs 8-7 in 10 innings.
Wiggins impressed with a fastball thrown consistently in the high-90’s, plus a sharp slider and curveball, and with a vanishing changeup. South Bend gave him the lead in the second, thanks to a sacrifice-fly RBI by Brian Kalmer.
In his lone inning allowing any damage, three runs came across against Wiggins in the top of the 3rd. Quad Cities used three singles and a walk to push across the runs, but South Bend would quickly come back.
A three-spot of their own headlined the bottom of the 4th inning, with two coming home on a triple from Jordan Nwogu. Nwogu put together a three-RBI game, and Brian Kalmer had two knocked in.
Up 4-3, South Bend picked up one more tally in the 6th on Nwogu’s second run scoring base hit. It was a 5-3 game.
From there, the South Bend bullpen looked sharp through the middle innings. Rehabbing right-hander Ben Leeper worked a scoreless inning. Nick Hull fired two shutout frames, Mitchell Tyranski pitched a scoreless 8th, and the Cubs were up two runs going to the 9th.
Quad Cities tied things up with two runs in the 9th off Yovanny Cabrera. South Bend had a chance to win it in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded, but QC closer Ben Sears got out of the jam. Tied at 5-5, we were set to go to extras.
In the 10th, the River Bandits pushed across three runs for the second time on the night, taking a commanding 8-5 lead. South Bend would be resilient and not go down easy. Reivaj Garcia punched a single into left to plate Parker Chavers, and another tally scored on a base hit from Wally Soto.
It was an 8-7 game. South Bend had the tying run at third base and the winning run at first, but the game ended on a groundout. The Cubs came up just short, and this weekend’s series is tied at a game apiece.
South Bend will still have the opportunity to win the series on Sunday afternoon when the two teams get together again at 2:05 PM for the first pitch. Right-hander Grant Kipp is the scheduled starter for the Cubs.