MWL1 Quad Cities River Bandits

Swing go bombs away in fourth of July win

Published on July 4, 2006 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release


The Swing of the Quad Cities did not want to wait until after the game to celebrate the Fourth of July, blasting two home runs in a four-run first-inning for an on-field fireworks show of their own in an 11-5 win over the Fort Wayne Wizards at John O'Donnell Stadium Tuesday night. Jon Jay and Tyler Greene each hit their first homers as members of the Swing in the opening frame, while Jay's bomb was the first of his young five-game career.

Quad Cities (6-7, 40-41) got two RBI apiece from the 3-4-5-6 hitters in the lineup, and every starter in the Swing batting order had reached base by the fourth inning. Fort Wayne (6-7, 37-43) falls under .500 with the loss, having dropped four ballgames in a row.

Joel Santo struggled against Quad Cities the first two times he faced them this year, giving up seven runs and a pair of homers in 2.1 relief innings while picking up a pair of losses when the Swing were in Fort Wayne from April 21-24.

As far as the Swing were concerned, the first inning Tuesday night was just like old times. Casey Rowlett drew a one-out walk and Jon Jay followed with his first professional home run, a bomb deep to right field. Randy Roth, who had homered in both of his at-bats this year against Santo coming into the game, narrowly missed another longball when his double bounced off the wall in left field. With two outs on the inning Tyler Greene capped the rally, blasting a two-run shot of his own the other way as his first home run in a Swing uniform gave the home team a 4-0 lead.

Quad Cities was on top 4-1 when they added to the their advantage with single runs in the third and the fourth. Bryan Anderson looped a single to left-center that plated Rowlett for a run in the third. One inning later the Swing took advantage of a pair of walks to put men on first and second, setting the stage for Rowlett to line a two-out single into right that scored Chad Gabriel for a 6-1 lead.

After Santo exited the game, the Wizards began to self-destruct defensively in the bottom of the seventh. Roth got on with one out thanks to an infield single, and he raced around the bases to score all the way from first one batter later when Anderson sent a triple to the gap in right-center. With the infield in Greene hit a grounder to third that forced the runner to hold, but the throw to first came in low and skipped away, allowing Anderson to score and Greene to move to second. He was at third with two outs when a routine groundball to short turned into another throwing error, allowing Greene to score the third run of the inning - only one of which was earned - as the Swing held a 9-1 edge.

While Fort Wayne rallied for four runs in the top of the eighth, Roth made sure the lead was safe with another bomb in the bottom half of the frame. With two outs and a runner on first, the first baseman slugged his league-leading 18th home run of the year to left to push the lead to 11-5. It was his fifth home run in 13 games since the All-Star break as well as his fifth home run in six games this year against the Wizards.

Cory Meacham (7-5) picked up the win for the Swing, holding Fort Wayne to one run on four hits through seven innings before running out of steam with a 9-1 lead at his back in the eighth. In all, he was tagged for four runs on seven hits over 7.1 innings while striking out six without issuing a walk.

Santo's (5-6) struggles against Quad Cities continued, as the righty was touched for six runs on nine hits and five walks in six innings. In three appearances against the Swing this season Santo is 0-3 with a 14.04 ERA, having allowed 13 runs and four homers in 8.1 innings of work.

UP NEXT: The Swing of the Quad Cities will play host to the Fort Wayne Wizards this week, as RHP Trey Hearne (5-2, 2.29) takes the hill opposite RHP Jarrett Gardner (0-0, 2.25) Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and coverage on Progressive Talk AM-1270 will begin at 6:45 p.m.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS: Thursday, July 6 will be Noche Latina, as well as a Pluckers/97 Rock Thirsty Thursday.

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Midwest League Stories from July 4, 2006


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