DAVENPORT, IOWA (May 24, 2019) — The Quad Cities River Bandits used a balanced offensive-attack and quality-pitching to beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 12-3 in the opening-game of their homestand on Friday night at Modern Woodmen Park. All nine players in the Bandits batting order finished with at least one hit and seven different players drove in a run. The game was the fourth true home-game for the River Bandits this season.
The River Bandits (30-14) broke open a tie-game in the fifth inning with a four-run outburst. Jeremy Pena’s fourth home-run of the season, a two-run line-drive over the right-field wall, put Quad Cities ahead 4-2. Later in the frame, Trey Dawson and Michael Wielansky came up with back-to-back RBI singles to extend the lead to 6-2.
The Bandits added single-runs in both the sixth and seventh innings on a sacrifice fly from Pena and RBI double by Ross Adolph respectively. Another four-run attack in the eighth put the game away. Pena reached on an error to begin the attack and subsequent walks to Jonathan Lacroix and David Hensley loaded the bases. The next three at-bats resulted in a sacrifice-fly from Alex Holderbach, two-run double by Dawson, and an RBI single off the bat of Wielansky for a 12-2 advantage.
The Bandits had moved in front initially with two runs in the third inning. Austin Dennis and Marty Costes drove in the runs with ground-outs that scored a man from third base. The Timber Rattlers tied the game with their only hit of the first eight innings, a two-run home run to right from Connor McVey in the top of the fifth.
RJ Freure started the game and picked up the win, surrendering just the home-run in 5.0 innings of work. Reliever Matt Ruppenthal faced the minimum in 3.0 scoreless innings. Wisconsin scored their final run in the ninth against Felipe Tejada, who closed the game out on the mound. The trio combined to allow just three hits and strike out 12 in the game.
Offensively, the Bandits combined for 12 hits. Pena, Dawson, Wielansky, and Adolph each collected two. Both of Adolph’s hits were triples.
The River Bandits and Timber Rattlers will play game two of the series on Saturday night at 6:35PM. RHP Cody Deason (3-1, 3.25) will start on the mound for the River Bandits against Wisconsin RHP Adam Hill (4-3, 4.06). It will be Celebrate a Legend Night at Modern Woodmen Park with a Joe Mauer bobblehead giveaway.
Wisconsin (R-H-E): 3-3-2
Quad Cities (R-H-E): 12-13-0
Win: Freure (3-1)
Loss: Sunitsch (2-5)
Save:
HR: Wisconsin: Connor McVey (2, 5th inning, 1 on base)
HR: Quad Cities: Jeremy Pena (4, 5th 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.
