April 26 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Louisville Bats
Published on April 26, 2026 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release
IOWA CUBS (13-12) vs. LOUISVILLE BATS (15-11)
April 26 - 1:08 PM CT - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA
RHP Paul Campbell (0-1, 8.31) vs. RHP Sam Benschoter (2-0, 5.02)
TODAY'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Louisville Bats are set to play the finale of a six-game series at Principal Park today...right-hander Paul Campbell is set to make his third start of the season and just his second at Principal Park...right-hander Sam Benschoter is scheduled to start for Louisville.
BACK IN THE WIN COLUMN: The I-Cubs got back on track with a 5-0 win vs. Louisville yesterday... James Triantos led the Iowa offense as he went 3-for-4 with a run, a double, a home run and two RBI... Connor Noland worked 6.0 innings and allowed just three hits, one walk and two strikeouts... Ethan Roberts, Gavin Hollowell and Colin Snider each tossed a scoreless frame and combined for three strikeouts.
MORE RUNS: The I-Cubs scored a season-high 15 runs on 14 hits in their win Wednesday...marked the most runs by the club since they plated 15 runs on June 27, 2025 vs. Columbus.
MATINEE ENJOYERS: Iowa improved to their record in day games yesterday to 9-4 vs. going 4-8 in night games...among the 10 teams in the International League West, the I-Cubs have the most day-game wins, ahead of next most Omaha, Memphis and Louisville all with six...in the following series at St. Paul, three of the six games will be day games.
ON THE BUMP: Iowa Cubs' catcher Casey Opitz took the ball to pitch in extra innings Friday night...he became the first position player to pitch in a game since outfielder Parker Chavers did on Aug. 14, 2025 vs. Worcester...Opitz tossed 2.0 innings and allowed two runs (none earned) on four hits and suffered the loss.
WOW, THAT WAS FAST: Thursday's game took just two hours and seven minutes...marked the fastest nine inning game by the I-Cubs since another two hour and seven minute game on Sept. 12, 2025 at Indianapolis...Iowa played two games under two hours last season, one on Sept. 19 vs. Toledo (1:59) and another on June 15 vs. Louisville (1:55).
WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING: The I-Cubs earned their first shutout victory of the season yesterday with a 5-0 win...it marked the first shutout win for Iowa since they took a 1-0 decision on Sept. 19, 2025 vs. Toledo...the I-Cubs are 1-1 in games a team is blanked.
NASTY NOLAND: Yesterday, starting pitcher Connor Noland became the second I-Cub to toss a quality start this season, following Will Sanders on April 3 at Louisville...in 2025, Noland worked at least 6.0 innings eight times, which is the most such games by an I-Cub since Colin Rea did so in 11 starts in 2019...Noland led the team with 132.2 innings pitched in 2025, the most by an I-Cub since Rea (148.0 IP) and Matt Swarmer (151.1 IP) in 2019.
TRI: Infielder James Triantos tallied his second game with at least three hits yesterday this season following a four-hit effort on April 2 at Louisville...Triantos also hit his third home run of the year, he did not reach three home runs last season until July 26.
HISTORY: Infielder Pedro Ramírez had a day to remember Wednesday as he went 3-for-5 with two home runs and eight RBI...the eight RBI matched a franchise record, done three other times by Ian Stewart (2013), Tom Eagan (1973) and Larry Haney (1971)...marks the most RBI in an International League game since Toledo's Eduardo Valencia also had eight on Sept. 4, 2025 at Lehigh Valley...Ramírez ranks among International League leaders in RBI (1st, 29), total bases (1st, 61), extra-base hits (T-1st, 15), runs scored (T-2nd, 21), home runs (T-3rd, 7), slugging percentage (4th, .629), hits (T-4th, 31) and OPS (5th, 1.018).
EXTRA, EXTRA: The I-Cubs fell to 1-2 in extra innings Friday night...Iowa went to extra innings in the first game of a doubleheader vs. Omaha on April 10 in a 6-4 loss and won a 11-10 decision in 10 innings on April 16 at Columbus.
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