Geneva, IL — The Quad Cities River Bandits watched the Kane County Cougars score five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 5-1 lead on Wednesday afternoon at Northwestern Medicine Field. They could have folded up shop at that point. Instead, they scored six runs in the top of the seventh to regain the lead and added three more in the eighth, on the way to a 10-5 victory in front of 7,209 fans.
River Bandits starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval and his counterpart from Kane County, Mack Lemieux traded scoreless innings over the first four frames. The Bandits finally broke the ice with a run in the fifth. Jake Adams singled to open the inning and then went to third on Cody Bohanek’s base hit to right field. Jake Meyers drove in Adams with a ground ball to short and the Bandits led 1-0.
Sandoval worked one more inning and ended his day after 5.0 shutout frames, having allowed just one hit while striking out seven. Cesar Rosado took over on the hill for the sixth and Kane County jumped on him quickly. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out, before Will Gorman cleared them with a three-RBI triple to right. Eudy Ramos followed with an RBI triple of his own and came around to score on Ernie De La Trinidad’s base hit up the middle. In the end, five runs came across on six hits and the Cougars jumped in front 5-1.
The River Bandits bounced back with their own big inning in the seventh. Adrian Tovalin greeted reliever Abraham Almonte with his first home run of the year to make it 5-2. Adams worked a walk and then singles by Bohanek and Meyers loaded the bases. Marcos Almonte plated another run with a sacrifice fly. With two outs, Jonathan Arauz tied the game by lining a 2-RBI triple into the left center gap. Michael Papierski joined Arauz on base with a walk and both runners scored when Bryan De La Cruz dropped a single into shallow right. The outburst put the Bandits back in front 7-5.
Adams led off the eighth inning with a solo home run, his second of the year to make it 8-5. Later in the same inning, Arauz knocked a second 2-RBI triple, this time to right field, to extend the advantage to 10-5.
The River Bandits finished with a season-high 13 hits. Both Adams and Meyers finished with three, while Arauz became the first River Bandit to rack up four RBI in a game this year.
Rosado relieved Sandoval with 2.2 innings of work, allowing five runs on six hits and three walks. He added four strikeouts. Carlos Sanabria finished the game with 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out a pair.
The teams will close out the series on Thursday night with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch at Northwestern Medicine Field. The River Bandits (7-10) will hand the ball to RHP Tyler Ivey (0-2, 4.85) while Kane County (9-8) counters with RHP Brian Shaffer (0-1, 4.61).
