For the first time in the six-game set, the Quad Cities River Bandits won consecutive contests against the Beloit Snappers after a pair of homers provided all of the Bandits’ offense in a 5-3 win on Saturday at Modern Woodmen Park.
As they did last night, the Snappers opened the scoring in the top of the first by manufacturing Kameron Misner’s leadoff single into a 1-0 lead with Will Banfield’s sacrifice fly off of Bandits’ starter, Asa Lacy.
Tyler Gentry, who showed off with a two-home run, six-RBI night in game two of the series, stole the lead from Beloit and belted a two-run shot off of Zach McCambley and plated Eric Cole to tie the game at 2-2.
Both starters settled down in the third and the fourth where Lacy struck out the side before giving way to the bullpen in the fifth, where Dante Biasi stranded Thomas Jones’ one-out triple, but then surrendered the lead in the sixth when Griffin Conine sent a solo shot over the wall in left, giving Beloit a 3-2 lead.
After working a one-two-three top of the seventh to help keep his team within striking distance, the home run ball struck again for the River Bandits; this time from Eric Cole, who, after a walk from William Hancock and a Loftin single, splashed a three-run jack into the Mississippi River off of Evan Brabrand to push his club on top, 5-3.
Biasi continued on through the eighth inning and worked around a Banfield single by ending the frame on back-to- back “Ks” and then shut the door in the top of the ninth thanks in part to Loftin’s diving grab that stole a hit from Marcos Rivera.
The lefthander, Biasi (2-0), earned his second win of the season for the River Bandits, while Brabrand (0-1) took the loss and a blown save for the Snappers.
Quad Cities will have a chance to win the series on Sunday, as a game-one rematch between Zach Haake (0-2, 5.23) and Beloit’s Bryan Hoeing (2-1, 6.64) will get underway at 1:00 p.m. at Modern Woodmen Park.