DAVENPORT, Iowa (May 20, 2014) - Right-hander Adrian Houser held the Burlington Bees to one run in six innings to win his third straight start, and the Quad Cities River Bandits tallied 13 hits in a 7-1 victory Tuesday in front of 5,176 at Modern Woodmen Park.
Throwing the game's first pitch less than 12 hours after Monday night's 12-inning game ended, Houser (3-1) worked around a one-out single for a scoreless first inning, and his teammates reached the scoreboard in the bottom of the first. Center fielder James Ramsay reached on an error by Bees first baseman Eric Aguilera, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored after singles by shortstop Jack Mayfield and catcher Brett Booth for a 1-0 lead against right-hander Harrison Cooney (2-3).
Houser allowed consecutive one-out singles in the second inning but escaped with two groundouts to end the inning. Burlington (20-23) finally reached him in the third inning, as second baseman Kody Eaves hit a leadoff double to left-center field, and designated hitter Mike Fish hit a one-out, game-tying single to center field. It ended Houser's scoreless streak of 13 1/3 innings, but he got Aguilera to ground into an inning-ending double play, beginning a stretch of 10 batters he retired consecutively to finish his six innings, matching his season high.
In the bottom of the third inning, Quad Cities (21-23) retook the lead within three batters against Cooney. Second baseman Chan-Jong Moon reached on an infield single to first base, shortstop Jack Mayfield singled to center field to put runners at first and third bases, and first baseman Conrad Gregor grounded a go-ahead single to right field. When right fielder Exicardo Cayones overthrew third base, Mayfield tried to score but was thrown out. Cooney got the next two batters to keep the game at 2-1, but he allowed another run in the fourth inning, left fielder Tanner Mathis and center fielder James Ramsay hit consecutive two-out doubles.
The River Bandits put the game out of reach in the fifth inning. Gregor reached second base on a throwing error by second baseman Kody Eaves, and Booth hit his second RBI single of the day to left field. That ended Cooney's outing, but right-hander Michael Smith allowed an RBI double by third baseman Tyler White and an RBI fielder's choice by Mathis to make it 6-1. Quad Cities added its final run against right-hander Victor Alcantara, who began the sixth inning and worked two scoreless innings before giving up consecutive one-out doubles by right fielder Brett Phillips and Ramsay in the eighth inning, extending the Quad Cities lead to 7-1. Ramsay and Booth each had two hits and two RBIs. Moon and Mayfield also each had two hits, and a total of nine River Bandits contributed at least one of the team's 13 hits.
After Houser went six innings, allowing five hits and one earned run with four strikeouts, right-hander Tyler Brunnemann began the seventh inning. He worked around a one-out walk in the seventh and kept Burlington hitless until the ninth inning, when Aguilera doubled to right field, snapping the Bees' combined 0-for-17 stretch since Fish's third-inning hit. Brunnemann then got a strikeouts and groundout to complete a career-high three innings and earn his first Midwest League save.
Quad Cities and Burlington will meet for the series rubber match at 7 p.m. Wednesday, when River Bandits right-hander Kevin Comer (0-0) is scheduled to make his first Midwest League start against Bees right-hander Ryan Etsell (3-1).
UP NEXT: A limited number of tickets are still available for the Inaugural Ferris Wheel Ride event and fundraiser to benefit the Genesis Health Services Foundation May 24. Only the first 300 will be sold for the noon to 3 p.m. event at Modern Woodmen Park. Call 563-421-6865 or visit Modern Woodmen park to order tickets. To order any of the River Bandits 2014 ticket plans - with new lower prices - call the River Bandits box office at 563-324-3000. Season ticket and mini-plan packages start at just seven games and begin at less than $40. Call a River Bandits account representative today to choose your seats and get the details of our various mini-plan packages.
