Sports stats

MWL1 Quad Cities River Bandits

Bandits Roughed Up in Series-Opener

June 10, 2009 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release


The Quad Cities River Bandits played in front of a boisterous crowd of 3,454 on Modern Woodmen Night, but the lively audience was unable to halt their struggles between the white lines in an 8-2 loss to the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Wednesday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

Jarred Bogany went 3-for-4 to lead the Quad Cities (26-32) offense, but the rest of the team managed just two hits as the River Bandits lost for the 16th time in their last 21 games. Cedar Rapids (35-24) got seven impressive innings from starting pitcher Will Smith as well as a pair of home runs from Beau Brooks, who has blasted three of his four longballs this season against Quad Cities pitching.

Smith (3-2) was in control from the outset, tossing at least seven frames for his fourth start in a row. The 20-year-old southpaw scattered five hits and induced three double plays while yielding two runs, just one of which was earned. He struck out four and walked three to earn the victory.

On the other side of the ledger, River Bandits' starter Arquimedes Nieto sailed through a nine-pitch first inning and retired the first four men he faced, but with one out in the second Adam Younger turned the tides. After Younger battled to a full count and singled on the eighth pitch of the sequence, the wheels fell off for Nieto.

Ryan Groth followed by smacking the very next pitch into the left-center field gap to start the scoring with an RBI-triple. One batter later, Angel Castillo's sacrifice fly made it 2-0 Kernels.

Cedar Rapids built on the lead with a four-run third inning. It started with back-to-back bunts by Chris Fox and Matt Crawford, and the runners advanced to second and third after a throwing error on Crawford's sacrifice. Alexi Amarista drove in a run with a groundout to short, while Roberto Lopez doubled in another score with a liner that bounced to the wall in left. Brooks then capped the rally, blasting the first pitch he saw over the Tiki Village in right field to extend Cedar Rapids' lead to 6-0.

The Kernels added single runs in the fourth and fifth. Jon Townsend and Crawford each doubled in the fourth, as the two-base hit by Crawford came with two outs and plated one run. In the fifth, Brooks launched his second jack of the night just over the ribbon board on the right field wall, giving Cedar Rapids a comfortable 8-0 advantage.

Quad Cites eventually reached the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth. Alex Castellanos drew a walk to open the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch, putting him in a position to score the River Bandits first run on a single by Bogany. Two outs later, Bogany found himself at third when Paul Cruz rolled a base hit up the middle to make it an 8-2 ballgame.

Nieto (1-5) suffered the loss for Quad Cities, knocked around for seven runs - six earned - on seven hits over four innings of work.

Another subtext to the ballgame was the end of Alex Castellanos's 15-game hitting streak, which was the longest by a River Bandits player this season and the longest active streak by a Midwest Leaguer entering the night. During the stretch, the toolsy 22-year-old infielder hit .403 with nine extra-base hits, 15 runs scored and seven stolen bases.

UP NEXT: The River Bandits wind down their final homestand of the first half on with a Thirst-day Thursday, featuring $2 drink specials on all draft beer and fountain Pepsi products. The weekend rolls in with a Fireworks Friday featuring a daytime talk by the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation Women of Inspiration and a Scout Night sleepover. Last, but certainly not least, the homestand concludes with Rudy's Tacos Night on a Rockin' Saturday. A night themed after the best taco restaurant in town will start with a Brett Wallace bobblehead doll giveaway before winding down with a post-game concert by Rockin' Jake!

Check out the Quad Cities River Bandits Statistics



Midwest League Stories from June 10, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Quad Cities River Bandits Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central