CLINTON, IOWA (April 8, 2019) — Nine innings weren’t enough to decide a back-and-forth affair between the Quad Cities River Bandits and Clinton LumberKings at Ashford University Field on Monday night. The River Bandits escaped with a 6-5 victory after Jeremy Pena’s bases loaded walk in the top of the tenth inning proved to be the difference in the Bandits first extra-innings game of the season.

Clinton opened the scoring in their first at bat. With one out, Christopher Torres worked a walk off of River Bandits starting-pitcher Luis Garcia. After a strikeout by Will Banfield, Torres stole second to move into scoring position. That paid off when Jerar Encarnacion punched a single into left, scoring Torres, and giving Clinton a 1-0 advantage.

Quad Cities jumped in front in the top of the third with some help from a defensive miscue. Trey Dawson started the rally with a walk before stealing both second and third base on consecutive pitches from LumberKings hurler Manuel Rodriguez. Dawson scored when a bouncer from Jeremy Pena was thrown away by third-baseman Marcos Rivera. Enmanuel Valdez followed with a line drive double off of the wall in right-field that scored Pena and put the Bandits on top 2-1.

That lead lasted until the Clinton half of the fourth inning. Garcia walked Sean Reynolds to open the inning, but Cesar Salazar caught him trying to advance to second on a pitch in the dirt. Marcos Rivera followed with a double over the head of center-fielder Ross Adolph. In the very next at bat, Michael Donadio crushed a go-ahead home run to right field that put the LumberKings in front 3-2. The long ball was the first of the season for Clinton.

The Bandits pulled even in the sixth against the Clinton bullpen. Alberto Guerrero allowed three consecutive one-out singles, the last of which tied the game as Jonathan Lacroix drove in Salazar from third base.

The score was still deadlocked when the Bandits came to the plate in the next inning. Dawson led off with a sharp single into left, but was nabbed trying to steal second for the first out. Ross Adolph worked a walk behind him. He was on base when Valdez struck again. The 20-year old turned on a fastball and launched a tie-breaking home-run over the right-field wall for a 5-3 lead. The round-tripper was the first of the season for Valdez.

Mark Moclair baffled Clinton’s bats out of the bullpen until the bottom of the eighth. Entering the frame, he had recorded six strikeouts and held the LumberKings without a hit. Torres sparked a rally by lining a triple into the right-field corner to lead off the stanza. Moclair walked the next two hitters to load the bases before being removed in favor of Willy Collado. Collado struck out the first hitter he faced for the second out of the inning, but Donadio struck again to tie the game with a two-RBI single through the right side on a 2-2 pitch.

After neither team scored in the ninth inning, Jonathan Lacroix started the extra frame on second base. With one out, Andy Pineda beat out an infield single to leave runners on the corners. Dawson was hit in the back to load the bases in front of Pena who watched four straight CJ Carter pitches miss the zone for the decisive walk. 

Valdez, Schreiber, Salazar, and Pineda each finished with two hits in the game. Valdez collected three runs batted in. Schreiber reached base in all five at bats.

Collado earned the win after working 2.2 scoreless innings to close out the night. He struck out three and did not allow a hit. Garcia and Moclair each finished with seven strikeouts and three walks. The trio of pitchers combined for a season-high 17 strikeouts.

Game two of the series is scheduled for 6:30PM on Tuesday night at Ashford University Field. The River Bandits (2-3) will call on RHP Austin Hansen in his first appearance of the season, while Clinton (2-3) will hand the ball to RHP Chris Vallimont (0-0, 0.00).

Quad Cities (R-H-E): 6-11-1

Clinton (R-H-E): 5-6-2

Win: Collado (1-0)

Loss: Carter (0-1)

Save: None

HRQuad Cities: Enmanuel Valdez (1, 7th inning, 1 on base)

HRClinton: Michael Donadio (1, 4th inning, 1 on base)

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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