Avant excels, but Bandits best Lugs in 10

DAVENPORT, IA – Corey Avant set a professional high with seven strong innings, but the Quad Cities River Bandits (2-0, 41-27) scored three runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to rally past the Lansing Lugnuts (0-2, 36-32), 4-3, on Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

Avant, drafted in the ninth round in 2023 from Wingate as a relief pitcher, had never recorded an out beyond the fifth inning – but was dazzling, striking out eight while allowing only one run on four hits and three walks in 97 pitches.

In the top of the 10th, T.J. Schofield-Sam’s first-pitch RBI double broke a 1-1 tie. Three batters later, Schofield-Sam scored on a wild pitch to put the Lugnuts up 3-1, looking for a third win in five games.

But no team in pro baseball has played more extra-inning games than Quad Cities, who made sure to capitalize on their 17th trip into bonus baseball.

Blaze Pontes struck out Diego Guzman, but tossed a wild pitch to move bonus runner Omar Hernandez to third. Erick Torres followed with an RBI single to bring the River Bandits within 3-2. A Daniel Vazquez single pushed Torres to third, and Sam Kulasingam dropped down a perfect squeeze to tie the game. A second Pontes wild pitch forced the Lugnuts to intentionally walk Callan Moss to load the bases.

The strategy appeared to have worked when Chris Brito sent a sharp grounder at shortstop Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, who flipped to Casey Yamauchi for the force at second – but Moss slid in late into Yamauchi, whose toss to first to attempt to complete an inning-ending double play went low and up the line. First baseman Schofield-Sam was unable to handle it, allowing Vazquez to score the game-winning run.

In the loss, Schofield-Sam went 2-for-4 with his league-leading 21st hit-by-pitch of the year, increasing his league-leading batting average to .352. Catcher Nick Schwartz finished 2-for-3 with a walk, single, double and a run scored, and DH Tommy White went 1-for-5 with an RBI single.

The series finale is at 1 p.m. / 12 noon local on Sunday between Lansing right-hander Jake Garland and River Bandits right-hander Drew Beam in a rematch of Tuesday’s series opener.

The Lugnuts then return home to host the Dayton Dragons from June 24-29. Tickets are available for purchase at the stadium box office, (517) 485-4500 or online at milb.com/lansing.

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