EASTLAKE, OHIO (May 2, 2019) — The Quad Cities River Bandits completed a sweep of the Lake County Captains by winning both games of a doubleheader on Thursday afternoon at Classic Park. The Bandits picked up a 7-2 win when the game that was suspended on Wednesday was resumed and then received their first complete game of the year from Nivaldo Rodriguez in a 1-0 victory in the nightcap. Brett Conine and Rodriguez, the two starting pitchers, combined to throw 14.0 scoreless innings on the day.

The first game began from where Wednesday’s contest was suspended, with the River Bandits leading 2-0 with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the first inning. Cesar Salazar rolled a single through the right-side in the first at-bat of the day scoring Jonathan Lacroix from third and pushing the Bandits ahead 3-0. Before the frame ended, Trey Dawson added an RBI infield-single to increase the margin to 4-0. The Bandits sent nine hitters to the plate and matched their season-high with six hits in the frame.

The River Bandits (15-10) pushed the lead to 5-0 with a run in the top of the fourth. Salazar legged out an infield single to open the inning and advanced to second when Dawson reached on an error. Austin Dennis bounced into a 5-3 double-play, with Dawson advancing to second. He would eventually race around to score on an RBI single to right from Alex McKenna.

Starter Brett Conine cruised through 7.0 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven. Felipe Tejada came out of the bullpen for the eighth and ran into immediate trouble. Lake County (14-12) opened the frame with a single and a walk before Tejada rebounded to retire the next two hitters. The right-hander walked Bo Naylor to load the bases and then surrendered a two-RBI single to Tyler Freeman that trimmed the lead to 5-2.  Tejada got Will Benson to pop up on the infield to close the inning.

The Bandits managed to extend the lead back to five in the top of the final inning. Dennis and McKenna worked walks off of reliever Skyler Arias to start the inning. Enmanuel Valdez scored Dennis and pushed McKenna to third-base with an RBI double to right. The final run of the game was tacked on courtesy of Jeremy Pena’s sacrifice fly to center field.

Salazar led all hitters by going 3-4 with an RBI. Valdez, Scott Schreiber, and David Hensley each added two hits of their own.

Quad Cities also took an early advantage in the second game of the twin bill. In the top of the second, Hensley grounded a base-hit up the middle and was moved to third on a double into the right-field corner by Lacroix.  Luis Oviedo registered the first out of the inning by striking out Alex Holderbach, but Dawson drove in a run with a chopper to third in the next at-bat, putting the Bandits on top 1-0. 

That run would turn out to be all the River Bandits needed, due to a dominating performance on the mound from Rodriguez. The right-hander worked 7.0 scoreless innings and allowed just two hits. He also picked up nine strikeouts, including seven in a row between the first and third innings. The win was the third shutout-victory of the season for the Bandits.

The River Bandits continue their trip to the Eastern Division opening a three-game series with the Fort Wayne TinCaps on Friday night at 6:05PM. The River Bandits have not yet announced a starting-pitcher for the game, while Fort Wayne will go with LHP Joey Cantillo (0-2, 6.84).

Quad Cities (R-H-E): 7-12-2

Lake County (R-H-E): 2-5-1

Win: Conine (2-3)

Loss: Royalty (0-2)

Save: None

HRQuad Cities: None

HRLake County: None

Game 2 (7 Innings)

Quad Cities 1, Lake County 0

All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.

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