Bandits Denied Playoff Berth, Fall to Lugnuts in First Half Finale

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MWL Quad Cities River Bandits

Bandits Denied Playoff Berth, Fall to Lugnuts in First Half Finale

June 20, 2025 - Midwest League (MWL)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release


Davenport, Iowa - After a pair of Cedar Rapids wins knocked Quad Cities out of a first half division title, the River Bandits lost in 10-inning fashion to the Lansing Lugnuts 5-4 at Modern Woodmen Park.

The defeat coupled with the Kernels' sweep of Thursday night's doubleheader against Beloit solidified Quad Cities' second place finish in the Midwest League West Division at 39-27.

River Bandits' starter Hunter Patteson yielded a season-high nine hits over his 5.0-inning outing, but worked out of a first-inning jam; allowing Daniel Vazquez to blast his first home run of the season, which clanged off the Ferris Wheel in left field, to put Quad Cities 1-0 early.

The Lugnuts didn't take long to respond and capped off a string of third-inning singles with Nate Nankil's game-tying RBI knock.

After Carter Frederick drew a leadoff walk in the home half of the third, catcher Omar Hernandez put the Bandits right back in front, ripping a middle-middle fastball into center field for an RBI-triple, his first of the season, to push Quad Cities back in front 2-1.

In the fourth, the Lugnuts got to Patteson again and rallied to load the bases with two outs. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer then tied the game 2-2 with a run-scoring infield single.

Both Patteson and Lansing starter Grant Judkins tossed a scoreless fifth inning, before Patteson gave way to Tommy Molsky. The right-hander completed a clean sixth, but surrendered a run on a Jared Dickey sacrifice-fly. With two outs, Tyler Davis entered to finish the frame and did so, but after walking CJ Rodriguez with the bases loaded to put the Lugnuts up 4-2.

Right-hander Jake Christianson replaced Judkins in the seventh, where he retired the first two Bandits hitters before issuing consecutive doubles to Austin Charles and Frederick. Frederick's RBI-two-bagger sliced the Lugnuts' lead to 4-3.

After Davis completed a perfect top of the eighth, Sam Kulasingam's RBI-groundout in the bottom half tied the game 4-4 against Hunter Breault. A pair of two-out hits from Callan Moss and Bryan Gonzalez put the go-ahead run at third, but the right-hander got Carson Roccaforte to pop out and end the threat.

In the ninth, Andrew Morones gave up back-to-back hits to open the top half, but never let Lansing retake the lead, stacking up three-straight punchouts to strand the go-ahead run at third and push the game to the bottom half. Frederick's second double of the night gave Quad Cities a brief opportunity, but Wander Guante would ultimately match Morones with a scoreless inning of his own.

With the game into extra innings, the River Bandits' 15th such contest this season, the Lugnuts manufactured a 5-4 lead on an Elvis Rijo sacrifice bunt and a Kuroda-Grauer RBI-groundout, however the lone tally would be the extent of the damage against right-hander Juan Martinez.

Henry Gomez made quick work of Quad Cities in the bottom half though, facing just two batters with help from a "strike 'em, throw 'em out" that set down Daniel Vazquez on strikes and caught Erick Torres stealing third in one sequence. The right-hander then struck out Kulasingam to end the game and secure his fourth save of the season.

Wander Guante (1-0) earned his first win for the Lugnuts, tossing a scoreless ninth, while Martinez (0-1) was tagged with the loss for the River Bandits, allowing just the one unearned run in the tenth.

Quad Cities returns to Modern Woodmen Park to open the second half of the season and play game four of its six-game set against Lansing. Quad Cities' Logan Martin (5-3, 4.56) is slated to get the start opposite Nathan Dettmer (1-3, 5.96). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

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