DAVENPORT, IOWA (August 27, 2021) — After splitting a twin bill last night, the Quad Cities River Bandits took a 2-1 series lead against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Thursday, as they emerged victorious 7-5 in Game Three of the six-game set at Modern Woodmen Park.
In just his third start of the season, Dante Biasi recorded six of his first seven outs by way of the strike-out and tossed three scoreless frames before the Bandits’ offense broke through against Nick Bennett, who gave up a bases-loaded two-run single to Logan Porter.
Working with a 2-0 lead, Biasi cruised through the fourth one-two-three, but then saw his lead vanish on three-straight Timber Rattlers hits that culminated with a game-tying two-run double by Joey Weimer, which drove the lefty from his start after 4.1 innings.
With a man on and one out, Kasey Kalich came on for Quad Cities and, after recording out number two, gave up an RBI single to Zavier Warren that put Wisconsin on top 3-2 before Joe Gray Jr grounded out to limit the damage.
The very next half-inning however, the River Bandits’ bats sprung back into action and got a one-out walk by Nick Loftin, followed by a Jake Means single. With Bennett remaining in the game, Porter knocked in his third RBI of the night with a game-tying double that chased the starter, and then saw Nathan Eaton and Eric Cole give the Bandits a 5-3 lead with back-to-back run-scoring singles off of Brady Schanuel.
Gavin Stupienski made it a four-run bottom of the fifth and extended his team’s advantage to 6-3 by plating Eaton with a sac-fly.
In the top of the sixth, Kalich kept the momentum in the Bandits’ direction and settled in to strike out the side in front of Nick Loftin’s RBI double in the bottom-half that made it 7-3.
Kalich worked another clean frame in the seventh before Ruben Ramirez retired Wisconsin in order in the eighth for a perfect start to his River Bandits’ début.
However, the T-Rats didn’t go down quietly in the ninth and struck for two on LG Castillo’s RBI fielder’s-choice and Felix Valerio’s bases-loaded walk, but the Ramirez got Warren to bounce out to Loftin to strand the go-ahead run on first base and secure a 7-5 Q.C. win.
Thanks to 2.2 innings of scoreless relief, Kalich (2-0) earned the win for the River Bandits, while Bennett (2-4) took the loss after allowing five earned on seven hits and three strike-outs in his 4.1 inning start.
Quad Cities will have a chance to secure at least a split of the series on Friday and will work behind Charlie Neuweiler (2-2, 5.72), who will battle Justin Jarivs (1-6, 6.27) at 6:30PM CDT at Modern Woodmen Park.
ABOUT THE BANDITS: The 2021 season marks the River Bandits’ first year as a new Advanced-A Major League affiliate. As such, the team will be offering higher-quality baseball than has ever before been played in the Quad Cities. Additionally, the Bandits will welcome a new MLB affiliate to the Quad Cities, the Kansas City Royals. The River Bandits anchor the Quad Cities’ sports-market, which The Sports Business Journal named the top minor-league sports-market in the country in 2015 and second-best minor-league market in its 2017 follow-up ranking. In 2015, 2017, and again in 2019, the River Bandits earned Ballpark Digest’s award for “Best Charitable Works” in Minor League Baseball, the only club to win that coveted award three times. For more information, visit www.riverbandits.com or contact General Manager Joe Kubly at (563) 333-2768.
