Photo: Manuel, Mark (uploader)
Behind a seventh inning that featured six River Bandits’ runs on six-consecutive hits, Quad Cities defeated the Beloit Snappers 9-5 on Saturday as they secured their fifth win in-a-row at Pohlman Field.
After Snappers’ starter, Bryan Hoeing stranded two Quad Cities singles in the top of the first inning, the River Bandits broke through for their first tally in the second when Will Hancock plated Seuly Matias on a RBI single, who had reached base via a double two batters earlier.
In his second Q.C. start of the season, Charlie Neuweiler, who went six-up, six-down through the first two frames, saw his lead increase to 3-0 in the top of the third as a pair of Beloit errors allowed Nick Loftin and Vinnie Pasquantino to touch home thanks to miscues from Troy Johnston and Marcos Rivera.
Hancock smacked a leadoff double to start the fourth, but Hoeing would use a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to navigate around the Bandits’ catcher before the Snappers got their own trio of runs on the combo Griffin Conine’s two-run blast, his 22nd of the season, and an RBI double by Will Banfield who knotted the game at 3-3.
Both starters stranded a man in the scoreless fifth, the final frame of the night for Neuweiler, who handed the ball to Holden Capps for his River Bandits’ debut.
As part of a minor league rehab assignment in the Quad Cities, the lefty matched Hoeing’s one-two-three sixth, including a pair of punch-outs.
A one-out, ten-pitch walk to Tucker Bradley in the top of the seventh would be the last responsibility of the day for Hoeing who retired after 6.1 innings in favor of Justin Evans who got Pasquantino to groundout to start his night. Then, with two outs, the River Bandits exploded for six-straight hits against the right-hander.
A go-ahead RBI double from Michael Massey got the barrage started for Quad Cities, as the red-hot second baseman plated Bradley. Then, an RBI infield-single off the bat of Nathan Eaton made it 5-3 before Seuly Matias got on for Maikel Garcia who plated the outfielder with his first Bandits’ double of the year to make it 6-3.
The big blow in the inning however, came courtesy of Will Hancock who, in an 0-1 count, launched his third homer of the season—a three-run dinger that cleared the bases and put Quad Cities ahead 9-3. John Rave contributed a single as the next man up, but the rally would come to an end after Evans struck out Loftin.
Despite a lengthy spell in the dugout, Capps remained crisp and retired Beloit in order in the bottom half to conclude his perfect two-inning appearance.
A scoreless eighth inning featured a Pasquantino double in the top half, but the newly entered Remey Reed worked around the two-bagger before Yohanse Morel carved through the top of the Snappers’ order to keep the six-run lead intact.
Beloit rallied with a pair of runs on Rivera’s RBI groundout and a run-scoring single by Ynmanol Marinez in the bottom of the ninth, but Morel got some help from his defense as Matias made a sliding catch in right field to end the game and secure Quad Cities’ 9-5 victory.
Capps (1-0) earned the win in his rehab outing for the River Bandits and struck out four out of the bullpen, while Beloit’s loss was charged to Hoeing (3-6), despite the righty allowing just two earned runs in 6.1 innings of work.
Quad Cities will have a shot at its first six-game sweep of the series on Sunday, as the final game at Pohlman Field will feature Anthony Veneziano (2-2, 4.37) for the Bandits and Kyle Nicolas (3-2, 5.70) for the Snappers in a 2:05 p.m. CDT matinee.