BELOIT, WISCONSIN (July 27, 2019) — The Quad Cities River Bandits collected 16 hits and scored in each of the first seven innings on their way to an 11-4 series-opening victory over the Beloit Snappers on Saturday night at Pohlman Field. Each of the ten players who received an at-bat for the River Bandits registered at least one hit.
Quad Cities (19-14, 62-37) jumped on top in the first inning with an impressive effort from Ramiro Rodriguez. The center-fielder lined a base hit into right field with one out and quickly stole second base. He also stole third base moments later and, with a high throw from catcher John Jones, was able to race home to give the Bandits a 1-0 lead.
The lead grew to 2-0 in the second with Trey Dawson’s RBI single and then widened to 5-0 with a big third-inning. Cesar Salazar scored two runs when he hammered a line-drive off of the batter’s eye in center-field for a triple. A sacrifice-fly from Alex Holderbach pushed in Salazar before the inning concluded.
Beloit (11-22, 38-63) scratched across a couple of runs in the bottom-half of the third inning to move closer, but the Bandits struck back when Dawson scored from third on a wild pitch by Aidan McIntyre with the bases loaded. The Snappers added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and closed to within 6-4.
Those early runs were all Beloit would muster in the contest. Felipe Tejada entered from the bullpen in the fifth inning and tossed 5.0 scoreless innings to improve to 6-0 on the season. The right-hander finished with nine strikeouts. Starting pitcher Lupe Chavez allowed four runs in 4.0 innings and struck out three.
The River Bandits scored runs in each of the next three innings to pull away. Michael Wielansky drove in a run with his second double of the night in the fifth inning to expand the margin to 7-4. In the sixth, Oscar Campos drove in a run with a base-hit and Alex Holderbach crushed a two-run home-run to left-center. The final run of the night was tacked on in the seventh inning when Grae Kessinger followed a Rodriguez triple with a sacrifice fly for an 11-4 cushion.
Wielansky and Dawson paced the Bandits by collecting three hits each. Rodriguez and Holderbach added two of their own to the total. Beloit finished with eight hits, two of which came from the bat of Nick Osborne.
The River Bandits and Snappers will meet for a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon with the first game beginning at 2PM. Both contests are scheduled for seven innings. The two scheduled starters for the River Bandits are RHP Jose Rivera (5-3, 4.86) and LHP Jonathan Bermudez (4-0, 3.82). Beloit will turn to RHP Rafael Kelly (3-3, 4.50) and RHP Richard Guasch (0-2, 6.83).
Quad Cities (R-H-E): 11-16-1
Beloit (R-H-E): 4-8-2
Win: Tejada (6-0)
Loss: McIntyre (2-8)
Save:
HR: Quad Cities: Alex Holderbach (4, 6th inning, 1 on base)
HR: Beloit: None
All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.
