SOUTH BEND, INDIANA (May 7, 2021) — For the second time in the River Bandits’ opening series, the team with the most hits failed to win, as Quad Cities rode just four base-hits and ten walks from the South Bend pitching staff to top the Cubs 9-8 at Four Winds Field to secure their first victory of the 2021 season and as members of the High-A Central.
Only one of the Banidts hits was of the extra-base variety; a two-run home-run by 2020’s 32nd overall pick, Nick Loftin, who in his first start and first at-bat as a professional took Cubs’ starter Max Bain deep to put his team up 2-0 in the game’s opening half-inning.
However, South Bend was quick to respond — a sight not uncommon for Quad Cities over the past week — when a sacrifice-fly from Cam Balego and Bryce Windham’s RBI single made Bandits’ starter Zach Haake pay for three first-inning walks.
After a scoreless second, it was South Bend taking the lead in the third with Chase Strumpf scoring on a Jeison Guzman error. And after a run-scoring knock from Nathan Eaton tied the game back up in the fourth, the Cubs manufactured another run in their half, this time with Strumpf’s sac-fly off of newly-entered Nolan Watson.
Neither starter made it past the third inning as Haake and Bain racked-up 63 and 67 pitches respectively.
In the sixth inning, Quad Cities was the benefactor of three South Bend walks, two wild pitches, a hit-by-pitch, and an error. Despite only hitting one ball out of the infield within the frame, the Bandits plated six runs and all of a sudden led 9-4 heading into the sixth.
Former 2015 first-round pick Nolan Watson gave the visitors a nice boost from its bullpen thanks to the righty’s scoreless fifth and sixth innings, before departing with one out to go in the seventh. His replacement, Garrett Davila, struggled in his High-A début after allowing two inherited runners to score on Yonathan Perlaza double in the seventh, cutting the score to 9-6.
The eighth inning was highlighted by a benches-clearing hit-by-pitch when Davila plunked Cole Roederer after delivering two inside fastballs with the at-bat’s previous two offerings. The Cubs responded by forcing an errant pickoff throw from Davila as Reivaj broke for third and then advanced home on the error. Moments later, Strumpf would score on a wild pitch and close the gap to a 9-8 Bandit advantage.
After Quad Cities failed to insure the lead in the top of the ninth, Chris Widger turned to Yohanse Morel — the first member of the Bandits’ pitching staff to make multiple appearances in 2021 — for the save situation and was rewarded with his first win as the QC skipper when Morel struck out Delvin Zinn swinging to end the game.
Despite his team out-hitting the opposition 13-4, Graham Lawson (0-1) was tagged with the loss for the Cubs, while the first win of the year went to Nolan Watson (1-0), who completed 3.2 IP and allowed three earned with two punchouts.
The River Bandits will look to even their record and the series against South Bend tomorrow night at 6:05PM, CDT, behind the arm of lefty Anthony Veneziano (0-0) who matches up against Cubs’ starter Derek Casey (1-0).
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.
