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Bandits win game two to split doubleheader

June 20, 2009 - Midwest League (MWL1) - Quad Cities River Bandits News Release


Steve Dillard tied the franchise record for wins by a Quad Cities manager on Saturday, as the Quad Cities River Bandits bounced back from a 6-0 loss in game one and snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 6-1 victory in game two of a doubleheader split against the Beloit Snappers at Pohlman Field.

Dillard guided Quad Cities (29-40) to a win for the 210th time in his managerial career, equaling the mark set by Jeff Carter from 2001-2003. After Bobby Lanigan tossed six shutout frames to lead Beloit (27-42) to a win in the opener, Brett Zawacki twirled his best outing as a professional to even the score in game two.

Zawacki (1-3) was tremendous in a career-high six inning performance, holding the Snappers to just one run on two hits while striking out five and walking one. After allowing a run-scoring double with two outs in the opening frame, the 20-year-old from nearby Peru, Illinois, set down 16 of the next 17 batters he faced, including 13 in a row to finish his outing. Sixteen of the 18 outs he recorded were on either groundouts or strikeouts and he did not allow a baserunner after the second inning.

Meanwhile, the River Bandits rebounded from a 1-0 deficit and stormed back for six unanswered runs. In the top of the third, Jose Garcia reached on an error, stole a base and scored on a single by Guillermo Toribio to even the count at 1-1.

Garcia was at it again in the fourth, stepping to the plate with men at second and third and two away. The speedy 21-year-old turned on a 2-0 pitch and blasted an extra-base hit to deep left-center, plating both runners. Garcia raced around second looking for a triple, and the relay throw to third bounced off the sliding runner and caromed into foul territory. That allowed him to jump to his feet and scamper home, giving Quad Cities a 4-1 advantage.

The River Bandits added single runs in the fifth and sixth, including a tape-measure home run by Jon Edwards that cleared the scoreboard in left field, to reach the 6-1 final. Curtis Leavitt (0-2) suffered the loss for Beloit.

The game two victory was sorely needed after Quad Cities lost their 40th game of the year - and eighth in a row - earlier in the evening.

Game one was dominated by Lanigan (6-4), who fired off six shutout innings and allowed just four hits for the Snappers. He allowed a leadoff double and little else, recording only one strikeout but walking none as he beat the River Bandits for the second time this year.

Ozzie Lewis gave Beloit an early lead with a solo homer leading off the second, but it was the third inning in which the home team sent nine men to the plate and seized control.

After Jeffrey Lanning opened the frame with a double Drew Thompson tried to bunt him along, but on a 2-2 count he took a full swing and sent a soft liner past the first baseman for an RBI-double. Two batters later Aaron Hicks - the Twins' 2008 first-rounder making his Midwest League debut - drove a run-scoring double of his own to right-center. The bases were loaded again later in the frame when a pair of groundballs plated two more runs. After a spectacular diving catch by third baseman Brett Lilley to end the inning, Beloit counted four runs home in the third and emerged with a 5-0 lead.

Dominic De La Osa's two-out single in the fifth drove home the final run and increased the lead to 6-0 as Hector Cardenas (4-4) was tagged with the loss for Quad Cities. The southpaw displayed sharp stuff early, but struggled through the third inning and was roughed up for five runs on five hits over three innings of work.


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