MWL1 Quad Cities River Bandits

Swauger leads Bandits to series win

Published on May 10, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release


The Quad Cities River Bandits played a strong all-around game on Sunday, pitching, hitting and fielding the ball exceptionally on their way to a 5-3 win over the Cedar Rapids Kernels at Modern Woodmen Park.

Quad Cities (16-13) got a big day at the plate from Chris Swauger, who went 3-for-4 with a homer and three driven in while Osvaldo Morales went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI. Meanwhile, Hector Cardenas shut down Cedar Rapids (13-17) with four scoreless innings of relief before closer Casey Mulligan continued his dominated season with a lock-down ninth inning.

The Kernels started the scoring in the top of the third, as Darwin Perez drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on a groundout by Roberto Lopez.

But trailing 1-0, the River Bandits did not waste any time striking back. Guillermo Toribio led off the bottom of the third with a single to left and moved to second after a walk to Brett Lilley. With one out, Swauger turned on a fastball and smoked a line drive to right-center that got all the way to the wall for a two-run triple. One batter later, Morales went the other way with a run-scoring double that gave Quad Cities a 3-1 advantage.

Cedar Rapids threatened a comeback in the top of the fifth, loading the bases with nobody out. That prompted the River Bandits to turn to Cardenas out of the bullpen - and the lefty responded. Cardenas limited the Kernels to just one run, giving up a sacrifice fly before inducing a double play ball to keep Quad Cities ahead, 3-2.

In the bottom half of the frame Swauger got the run right back, blasting a solo homer to left-center with two outs.

In the eighth inning, Swauger led off with a single and scored on another RBI-double by Morales, staking the River Bandits out to a 5-2 advantage.

The Kernels added an unearned run in the ninth, but it was too little too late as Mulligan struck out the side for his eighth save in as many chances. That made a winner out of Cardenas (3-1), who twirled four one-hit frames of shutout ball and fanned four.

Tyler Chatwood (1-2) suffered the loss for Cedar Rapids, striking out seven over six innings but allowing four runs on five hits.

UP NEXT: The River Bandits will take the day off on Monday before playing a five-game, four-day series in Peoria against the Chiefs. Quad Cities will then return to Modern Woodmen Park for a season-long 10-game homestand that begins on Saturday, May 16, and lasts through Monday, May 25.

ABOUT THE BANDITS: Under new ownership and management in 2008, the Quad Cities River Bandits topped 207,000 fans for only the sixth time in team history and the first time in 12 years. Having recently completed one of the most successful seasons in the history of the franchise - and with a renewed dedication to fans, sponsors and the Quad Cities community - the return of the River Bandits has brought a resurgence of support for the team. BanditWear, season tickets and mini-plans, and individual game tickets are on sale for the 2009 season by calling (563) 3-BANDIT or heading to www.RiverBandits.com. But hurry - good seats are going fast!

Check out the Quad Cities River Bandits Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from May 10, 2009


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