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MWL Quad Cities River Bandits

Hancock's Heroics Lead Bandits to Walk-Off Win

August 28, 2021 - Midwest League (MWL)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release


Davenport, Iowa - After entering the game batting .100 in the month of August, Will Hancock smashed a two-run, opposite-field homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the Quad Cities River Bandits an 8-6 win over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers for their fifth walk-off win of the season at Modern Woodmen Park.

While the game ended in dramatic offensive fashion, it was pitching that ruled the contest for the first three innings, as Charlie Neuweiler started his day nine-up, nine-down for the Bandits and Justin Jarvis stranded a runner in each of his first three frames.

The second time through the order however, Wisconsin got leadoff hits from Carlos Rodriguez and Felix Valerio, who both found their way home on RBI groundouts by Zavier Warren and Joe Gray Jr., before Ashton McGee sent a two-out solo homer over the fence for to tag Neuweiler for a 3-0 Timber Rattlers' lead.

Jarvis remained solid in the fourth and looked poised to strand a pair of runners, but Gavin Stupienski's grounder to second turned into a run when Antonio Pinero let the ball bounce over his glove and into right field to allow John Rave to plate an unearned run.

Both starters worked into the scoreless fifth, but needed help from the bullpen to do so. For the Bandits, it was Mitch Ellis who got Carlos Rodriguez to flyout to end the top half and for the Rattlers, it was Freisis Adames who worked around a one-out walk in the bottom half.

In the sixth, each team struck for a pair, as Freddy Zamora brought in a two-out run with a single, before Ellis walked Chad McClanahan to load the bases and then hit Kekai Rios to extend the Wisconsin lead to 5-1. Quad Cities got its two when Eric Cole became the third-straight hitter to reach against Adames and drove in John Rave and Nathan Eaton with a single.

Despite facing eight batters in the sixth, Ellis settled down for the Bandits and faced one over the minimum in a scoreless seventh, to keep his club's deficit at 5-3.

After the stretch, the River Bandits brought all nine men to the plate and tied the game after Tucker Bradley singled off of newly entered Evan Reifert to start the inning, and then Michael Massey blasted a no-doubt, two-run, game-tying blast to knot the score at 5-5. Reifert then recorded a quick two outs, but then loaded the bases on three-straight walks.

Although falling into a two-strike count, it was Hancock who gave the Bandits the 6-5 lead when the Bandits' catcher was hit by a pitch to score Eaton from third.

Now working with its first advantage of the game, Quad Cities turned to Will Klein, who allowed a leadoff single to McGee. The righty then responded with a flyball and a strikeout, but Wisconsin tied the game at 6-6 on Rios's RBI double that scored McGee from first.

Cam Robinson worked the bottom of the eighth for the visitors and stranded Bradley's third walk of the game to send it to the ninth, where Klein faced the minimum thanks to Hancock throwing out Rodriguez who tried to steal second after a leadoff single.

In the bottom of the ninth, Harold Chirino appeared to have the game in control and struck out Eaton and Cole to start the inning. Then, after Gavin Stupienski put the winning run on board with a four-pitch walk, Hancock powered a two-run walk-off blast over the left field wall for a Q.C. win and his first home run since July 13.

Despite blowing a save, Klein (6-1) earned his sixth win of the season out of the bullpen for Quad Cities and struck out two, while Chirino (4-4) got the loss on the walk-off homer.

The River Bandits will have a chance to secure a High-A Central leading 12th series win of the season on Saturday and will start the league's strikeout leader, Anthony Veneziano (5-4, 4.06) against Wisconsin's T.J. Shook (1-0, 3.60). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CDT at Modern Woodmen Park.

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