BURLINGTON, IOWA (March 4, 2019) — The Quad Cities River Bandits looked comfortable despite having to play their scheduled home-opener in a road venue due to flooding at Modern Woodmen Park. Nivaldo Rodriguez was impressive on the mound and leadoff hitter Ross Adolph homered and drove in four runs to spark a rain-shortened 9-2 opening-night victory over the Burlington Bees. The game ended following the final out of the seventh inning.
The River Bandits struck first. In the second inning, Oscar Campos reached on a throwing error by Burlington third-baseman Kevin Maitan. He advanced to second base via wild pitch and moved to third on a passed ball. Jonathan Lacroix’s bouncer to first base allowed Campos to score the game’s initial run.
The Bandits' half of the third inning also began with help from a Burlington miscue. Trey Dawson’s left-side groundball was bobbled and thrown away by Maitan for an error to start the inning. Adolph followed with a towering fly ball to left field that carried over the wall for a two-run home run.
Quad Cities once again extended the lead in the sixth. A walk and two singles loaded the bases with no outs. After Andy Pineda struck out, Dawson grounded a base hit up the middle to plate two runs and grow the lead to 5-0. Ensuing wild pitches allowed both Scott Schreiber and Dawson to score from third later in the inning to push the advantage to 7-0.
Burlington did their only damage of the evening against reliever Shawn Dubin in the seventh. After the right-hander worked around two walks in the sixth, he opened the seventh by issuing free passes to the first two Bees hitters he faced. With two outs and runners on the corners, Connor Fitzsimons cued a slow-roller to the right-side for an RBI infield single. The next batter, Jordyn Adams, grounded a ball back to the mound. Dubin knocked it down, but his throw to first was mishandled by Schreiber, allowing a second run to cross the plate and the lead to be reduced to 7-2.
In the final half-inning before the game was stopped, the Bandits pushed the lead back to seven. The River Bandits used an error, a base-hit, and a passed-ball on a third strike to load the bases with two outs. Adolph cashed in again, this time rolling a base hit through the right side to score two runs and make it 9-2.
Starting pitcher Nivaldo Rodriguez earned the victory after tossing 5.0 shutout innings. He recorded eight strikeouts and allowed just one hit. Dubin worked 2.0 innings and surrendered two runs on two hits and four walks. The duo combined for 11 strikeouts.
Enmanuel Valdez, Lacroix and Schreiber all joined Adolph with two hits in the contest.
The River Bandits (1-0) and Bees (0-1) will meet for the second game of their series on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. RHP Cody Deason will start on the mound for the Bandits against Burlington RHP Cole Duensing. The River Bandits will act as the home team once again.
Click here for the box score.
Burlington (R-H-E): 2-3-3
Quad Cities (R-H-E): 9-10-1
Win: Rodriguez (1-0)
Loss: Soriano (0-1)
Save: Dubin (1)
HR: Burlington: None
HR: Quad Cities: Ross Adolph (1, 3rd 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.
