Quad Cities Report
Coming back home from Peoria with a two game win streak and looking to turn around the early struggles into wins. The players could relax coming back knowing they got two wins under their belt and a weekend series in front of their home crowd. Looking ahead as far as the weather went the 5 day forecast looked perfection with 80 degree weather and sunny (Finally baseball weather). The Kane County Cougars came to town and didn’t care what the weather was, they wanted to rain on the Bandits parade and they did just that sweeping a four game series with the Bandits.
April 14th 7:00 PM Game
The Quad Cities River Bandits were back home to start a four game weekend series with the Kane County Cougars, a great night for baseball 69 degrees, the Thursday night game drew in almost 2,000 fans all of them there to try and cheer on the Bandits to win. The Astros #12 pitching prospect Albert Abreu got to the nod to start the game, coming off a 2.2 Inning relief stint at Cedar Rapids giving up 2 runs and fanning 7. He started off strong going through 4 surrendering just one run and looking strong on the mound. Some of the problems that I have been seeing is when a pitcher has a inning they struggle in they give up a hand full of runs and that what happened with Abreu in the fifth. Albert gave up 3 hits and a walk and surrendered 2 runs after getting pulled for Pitcher Jose Hernandez. The only offensive production of the night came in the 3rd and 7th inning as Johnny Sewald was Hit by a Pitch in the third and came home to score when OF Daz Cameron Tripled him home. In the 7th inning SS Osvaldo Duarte hit a double and came home to score when 2B Aaron Mizell hit a gapper. The Bandits dropped the first game 5-2.
April 15th 7:00 PM Game
Looking to bounce back from a loss, the Bandits called for Pitcher Chris Murphy to see if he can stop these hot hitting cougars. Murphy started out strong getting three strikeouts in two innings but like I said earlier one bad inning this year proves crucial for the Bandits. Chris gave up 3 runs in the third before retiring the side. Chris Murphy would be pulled after going 4.2 just giving up those three runs. Pitchers Zac Person, Matt Bower, and Adam Whitt did a great job coming out of the bullpen giving up just one run in the last 4.1 innings. Different night but same lack of offensive production hurt the Bandits as the only run came in the 4th inning when OF Kyle Tucker reached on an error, stole second, and scored on a wild pitch. The Bandits would drop their second straight 4-1.
April 16th 1:15 Game
Pitcher Sebastian Kessay takes the mound looking to do better then his last relief outing going just 0.1 inning. This just might sound like I’m repeating myself but I’m not, Kessay started the first two innings strong inducing flyouts and groundouts before giving up four hits and five runs along with 2 walks in the third going another short outing and making a depleted bullpen have a long outing once again. Finally, the offense showed some life with a comeback effort in the eighth inning with SS Antonio Nunez started the inning off with a walk, RF Johnny Sewald followed with a single putting the Bandits in business with zero outs. Daz Cameron hit a double scoring Nunez getting the Bandits are the board with still no outs, Designated Hitter was next up trying to continue with the merry go around which he did hitting a single scoring both Sewald and Cameron making the Cougars lead cut down to two. Catcher Anthony Hermelyn coming off a 0-3 day scorched a double down the left field line with Duarte scoring easily making it 5-4. The next chance they got was in the 9th when 2B Brooks Marlow reaching on a error and getting all the way to third with zero outs but after 2 strikeouts and a groundout the comeback fell short and dropped their third straight.
April 17th 1:15 Game
On a perfect Sunday afternoon with temperature reaching 78 degrees, the Bandits look to avoid the four game sweep at home. Coming off of a strong start they look to Pitcher Kevin McCanna to stop this losing surge but for the FOURTH straight game that one bad inning hinders the Bandits. The Cougars got one in the first and two in the second. Another short inning for a Bandits starter with McCanna going 3.2 Innings 10 hits 3 ERs 2 BB and 3 strikeouts. Pitchers Andrew Thome came in after and had a great 4 innings of pitching posting just 1 hit, 1 ER, and 3 strikeouts, Jacob Dorris came in shortly after and pitched a 2 hit and 1 ER of 1.1 inning. 2B Brooks Marlow hit his first River Bandit homerun and a Duarte RBI double were the only offense Bandits could muster up as the Bandits get swept in four putting them to 2-9 on the early season.
Top Performer for the Weekend:
Osvaldo Duarte – 2 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, SB; Currently hitting .355 through 11 games
Top Prospects:
Daz Cameron, OF: 3-for-16, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI; Daz has been showing some progress
Kyle Tucker, OF: 1-for-11, 2 BB, 2 SB; Kyle has 5 stolen bases in 10 games
Albert Abreu, RHP: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Coming Up:
Bandits are headed to Appleton, WI for a three game set with Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, then off to Geneva, IL for another four game set with Kane County Cougars.
**Photo Credit: Richard Guill**
