Bandits and Bees Split Doubleheader for Second Straight Day

Burlington, IA — The Quad Cities River Bandits and Burlington Bees split a doubleheader for the second straight day on Sunday afternoon at Community Field in Burlington.  The final score in each contest was 3-2 with the Bees taking game one and the River Bandits fighting back in the nightcap. The games were played in front of a crowd of 619.

Burlington was the first team to tally in the opener as they managed to chase River Bandits starter Yohan Ramirez after just 0.2 innings.  Leonardo Rivas and Jo Adell started the inning with back-to-back doubles and both came around to score on a single up the middle from Spencer Griffin. 

The River Bandits got one back in the second, but missed out on a chance for more.  Adrian Tovalin began the frame with a double and went to third on Marcos Almonte’s base hit.  Bryan De La Cruz ripped a double to left, scoring Tovalin and making it 3-1.  With two in scoring position and no outs, Gabriel Bracamonte and Jake Meyers popped out in foul ground and Cody Bohanek grounded to second, as Bees pitcher Mitchell Traver escaped further damage.

Quad Cities moved even closer in the third when Corey Julks walked and was doubled home by Jake Adams to get the Bandits within 3-2.  Adams made it to third with one out, but was stranded there. The River Bandits put one runner in scoring position the rest of the way and the 3-2 score ended up being the final margin.

Ramirez surrendered three runs on four hits in 0.2 innings.  Reliever Humberto Castellanos was impressive in his River Bandits debut, tossing 5.1 shutout innings while allowing two hits and fanning five.

The Bandits finished with six hits. Tovalin provided a pair as the only Quad Cities player with multiple knocks. 

In the second contest, it was the Bees once again taking the first advantage.  Cristian Javier walked Spencer Griffin to open the inning and moved to third on Torii Hunter’s single.  When Javier fell behind in the count to Brandon Marsh, the Bandits decided to intentionally walk him, loading the bases.  The next two hitters, Franklin Torres and Julio Garcia, each lifted sacrifice flies to give the Bees a 2-0 lead.

The River Bandits reached the scoreboard in the top of the fourth.  Adams worked a walk off of Bees starter Jon Malmin and quickly went from first to third on an ensuing single from Jonathan Arauz. Adams touched home plate thanks to a sacrifice fly from Marcos Almonte, pulling the Bandits within 2-1. 

The Bandits were back at it in the fifth, this time jumping in front.  De La Cruz singled on the first pitch of the inning thrown by reliever Sean Isaac.  With one out, Meyers also singled and there were two on base.  Both runners advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch to move into scoring position.  Bohanek’s sacrifice fly tied the score and was followed quickly by a go-ahead RBI double by Julks. 

In the sixth inning with Burlington putting runners on the corners against Dariel Aquino, the River Bandits handed the baseball to Tanner Duncan.  Duncan, who joined the team yesterday, finished off the inning by recording back-to-back strikeouts.  He came back out for the seventh with the same score and worked around a walk by striking out the side and securing the 3-2 victory.

Javier’s start spanned 3.0 innings.  The right-hander walked five, struck out four, and surrendered a pair of runs on two hits. Colin McKee picked up his second win, working 1.1 shutout innings complete with two strikeouts. Aquino worked 1.0 scoreless inning with a pair of whiffs and Duncan earned the save striking out five of the six hitters he faced.

The River Bandits had five hits in the game, with two of them provided by De La Cruz.

The River Bandits (5-9) will remain on the road for the opening game of a series against the Kane County Cougars (8-6) at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva, Illinois on Monday.  First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.  RHP Luis Garcia (0-0, 0.00) will take the ball in game one in a match-up with RHP Cole Stapler (1-1, 2.70) of Kane County.

All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio.  Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.

Bandits and Bees Split Thrilling Doubleheader on Saturday

Burlington, IA — The Quad Cities River Bandits and Burlington Bees split a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon with the victorious club coming from behind in both games. The Bees scored five runs in the fifth inning of game one to erase a 3-0 deficit and turn it into a 5-3 win.  In the second game, the River Bandits scored three runs with two outs in the seventh inning to grab a 5-4 victory.   

In the first game, the River Bandits scored in the opening inning for the second straight day.  J.J Matijevic doubled with one out and went to third on an ensuing single from Jonathan Arauz. The Bandits executed a double steal with Arauz taking second and Matijevic scoring when Burlington catcher Keinner Pina’s throw to second was too late.

Quad Cities loaded the bases with no outs in the next frame as Roman Garcia, Marcos Almonte, and Gabriel Bracamonte all reached base safely to open the inning.  Jake Meyers took advantage by lofting a sacrifice fly into right field that scored Garcia and made it 2-0.

The River Bandits scratched again in the third to go up 3-0.  Matijevic worked a leadoff walk and wasted no time stealing second.  Garcia drove him in with a line drive single up the middle and into center field.

The fifth inning turned out to be the decisive frame in the contest, starting in the top of the stanza.  The River Bandits were attempting to blow the game open with men on first and second and nobody out for clean-up hitter Adrian Tovalin.  Both runners were on the move as Tovalin smashed a line drive right at the third baseman Gleyvin Pineda.  He tagged out the runner at third and threw to second where the trail runner was also tagged out for the 111th triple play in Midwest League history.

In the bottom of the frame, Burlington went on the attack.  The first five hitters of the inning all reached base safely.  Torii Hunter Jr, doubled, Pineda walked, Leonardo Rivas singled, and then Jo Adell grounded a two-run single through the hole on the left side to trim the lead to 3-2.  Following another single, Tyler Ivey, the River Bandits starter, was removed in favor of Colin McKee with the bases loaded. McKee struck out Franklin Torres, but allowed a go-ahead three-run double off the wall to Julio Garcia which gave the Bees the 5-3 advantage they would maintain the rest of the way.

Ivey lasted 4.0 innings and surrendered all five runs on five hits.  McKee tossed 1.0 inning and struck out the side, allowing the go-ahead in the process.  Tanner Duncan made his River Bandits debut with a clean sixth inning. 

The River Bandits totaled eight hits in the game.  Both Matijevic and Bracamonte finished with two.

In the nightcap, it was the Bees who jumped in front with a big third inning.  Harrison Wenson hit his second home run in as many days to open the scoring.  This time it was a drive to left field off of Peter Solomon that made it 1-0. Pineda worked a base on balls in the next at bat and then crossed the plate on a run-scoring double from Leonardo Rivas. Adell followed by beating out an infield single to leave runners on the corners. Brandon Marsh pushed the lead to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly.  Torres singled into right field and the ball rolled under the glove of right fielder Bryan De La Cruz, allowing Adell to score from second and the lead swelled to 4-0.

The River Bandits used a long ball of their own to cut the Burlington lead in half in the fifth.  Michael Papierski opened the frame by singling to center and then moved to second when Marsh bobbled the ball.  Meyers turned on a pitch from Jorge Tavarez and deposited it over the left field wall for his first home run of the season.

With one out in the seventh inning, Meyers reached on a single up the middle.  With two outs and Meyers still on base, Corey Julks and Jake Adams each came up big with two strikes on them. First, Julks ripped a triple to dead center to pull the River Bandits within 4-3.  Then, Adams grounded a base hit through the left side to score Julks and even the score. The next man up, Jonathan Arauz, lined a triple into the right field corner.  Adams raced around third and the throw to the plate beat him, but he avoided the tag with a nifty slide, putting the Bandits in front 5-4.

Dariel Aquino, who flew in from extended spring training earlier in the day, closed out the game in the ninth with help from a double play turned by second baseman Cody Bohanek.

Solomon was chased after 2.1 innings, having allowed four runs on four hits and three walks.  The right-hander struck out four.  Adam Bleday was the first reliever out of the pen, tossing 3.2 scoreless innings complete with six strikeouts.

River Bandits Drop Opener in Burlington 28-7

Burlington, IA — The River Bandits enjoyed a quick start on Friday morning at Community Field, but that start was rendered moot when Burlington put up at least five runs in four different innings on the way to a 28-7 series-opening victory.   The game was played in front of 2,246 fans on Education Day in Burlington.

The River Bandits jumped in front just two batters into the game. Corey Julks led off against Bees starter Jeremy Beasley with a base hit.  Julks then stole second and advanced to third when the throw from catcher Harrison Wenson sailed into center field. He scored moments later on a wild pitch to make it 1-0.

Burlington bounced back in a huge way in the bottom of the inning against River Bandits starter Cesar Rosado.  After Rosado retired the leadoff hitter on a groundball, he hit Jo Adell with a pitch and walked Brandon Marsh. After a Julio Garcia groundout, Rosado walked Torii Hunter Jr. and Harrison Wenson in back-to-back at bats to force in the tying run.  Rosado was removed after the last walk.  He lasted 0.2 innings and allowed four runs on no hits and three walks.

Cole Watts came out of the bullpen and surrendered a two-RBI single to Spencer Griffin, a run-scoring infield single to Gleyvin Pineda, and another two-run single to Adell before the inning ended with the score 8-1 in favor of Burlington.  Due to an error in the inning, four of the runs were unearned.

Burlington climbed to a 10-1 lead after scoring two more in the second inning.  The River Bandits clawed back within seven after Marcos Almonte and Cody Bohanek each drove in a run in the third, but then the Bees blew the game wide open.

They scored three more runs in the fourth and five runs in the fifth, sixth, and eighth innings to expand the lead to 28-3.  The River Bandits used an RBI triple by Julks and a three-run home run by Jake Adams in the ninth to reach the final difference of 28-7. 

Wenson hit a solo home run in the fourth, while both Adell and Marsh launched grand slams in the fifth and eighth innings respectively for the Bees.

All nine hitters in the Burlington starting lineup tallied at least one hit. Pineda led all hitters with five base knocks.  Spencer Griffin, David McKinnon, and Adell each added four. Adell (8) and Marsh (7) combined to drive in 15 of the 28 Bees runs.

The Bandits used six pitchers in the contest, all of whom allowed at least three runs, except for Robert Corniel who recorded the final three outs.

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