MWL Quad Cities River Bandits

Bandits Ride Early Offense to Even Series

May 7, 2021 - Midwest League (MWL)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release


South Bend, Indiana - In their first four-hour affair of the new campaign, the River Bandits moved back to .500 on the season thanks to six runs in the first third of the game as they defeated the South Bend Cubs 8-6 at Four Winds Field.

Despite scoring one less run than they did the previous night in a 9-8 win, Quad Cities tripled their hit total with 12 on Thursday including Tyler Gentry's first double of the year which scored Jimmy Govern in opening frame to take a 1-0 lead against Cubs' starer Derek Casey.

In the second, back-to-back walks of William Hancock and Nathan Eaton set the stage for Logan Porter who loaded the bases with line drive to right field. After Govern reached on an error that also allowed Hancock to score, Michael Massey sent a ball into right field to score Eaton before Vinnie Pasquantino earned his most painful RBI of the season after Casey hit him with pitch, granting clearance for Porter to stroll in from third with the new 4-0 lead.

A sloppy bottom half from Bandits' starter Anthony Veneziano that included three hits, a walk, and a passed ball on Hancock gave South Bend two runs and chased the righthander from his High-A debut after 51 pitches.

However, in the third, the offense picked up right where it had left off as Govern built upon his hot start with a two-run single to score Eaton and Porter who had earlier reached on two of Casey's four walks elevating the lead to 6-2.

Now into his bullpen early, manager Chris Widger got a much-needed 1.1 innings from Jonah Dipoto who allowed just one base on balls in his second scoreless appearance of the season before Dante Biasi took over the game in his 2021 debut.

After allowing two harmless walks in a scoreless fourth, the former Burlington Royal faced the minimum through the fifth and the six and watched his team insure the lead with a bases loaded walk from Porter and an RBI double from Govern spread out over the two frames.

Mitch Ellis continued his struggles against the Cubs after surrendering six hits and four earned over 1.1 innings before giving way to Adam Lukas who stopped the bleeding at 8-6 and secured the Bandits win in the ninth after retiring South Bend in order for his first save of the season.

Biasi (1-0) earned the win for Quad Cities as the only Bandits pitcher to work beyond two innings, while Casey absorbed the loss for the Cubs thanks to five hits, four walks, and four earned over three innings of work.

The River Bandits will look win three in-a-row tomorrow behind Grant Gambrell's (0-0) first showing of the year, while Michael Ryan's squad will back the righthander Ryan Jensen (0-0) for a 3:05 p.m. CDT first pitch.

Check out the Quad Cities River Bandits Statistics



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