Hostetler's blast leads Carp past Bandits

The Sky Carp prevailed in a back-and-forth battle to down Quad Cities 8-6 in 10 innings on Wednesday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

With the game knotted at 6 with two outs in the top of the 10th, Bennett Hostetler ripped a 2-run homer to left center field, which proved to be the winning blow.

The Sky Carp scored first via a Marcus Chiu 2-run blast in the 3rd. After Jackson Rose, who made a last-minute spot-start, retired the River Bandits in order through three innings, the wheels fell off the wagon in the 4th.

Rose left the game with the bases loaded and one out in the 4th, and Josan Mendez failed to prevent a rally out of the bullpen, and 5 runs eventually came in to score.

Beloit came roaring back, scoring in three straight innings to eventually pull ahead 6-5 in the top of the 7th. That lead didn’t last long, as the River Bandits pulled even in the bottom half, knotting the game at 6.

After Raul Brito stranded two runners on in the 8th and Beloit went down in order in the top of the 9th, Justin Evans came out of the bullpen for Beloit for the bottom of the 9th.

After striking out the leadoff man, Evans struck out Tyler Tolbert, but the ball got away, allowing the speedster to reach. Evans bounced back to strike out the next two batters as well, accomplishing the rare four-strikeout inning.

After the Hostetler homer in the top of the 10th, Evans struck out two more batters in the bottom of the 10th to record the Beloit win.

With the victory, Beloit is out of last place for the first time since Opening Day and has won 7 of its last 8 games.

The Sky Carp return to action against the River Bandits tomorrow night at 6:30. Fans can tune into the game on the Big Radio app.