Nuts close out first half, beat Bandits in 10

DAVENPORT, IA – Native Iowan Grant Judkins turned in a quality start before his Lansing Lugnuts (36-30) turned in a quality finish, outlasting the Quad Cities River Bandits (39-27), 5-4, in 10 innings to close out the first half of the Midwest League season on Thursday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

The River Bandits lost out on the West Division first half title, clinched by the Cedar Rapids Kernels thanks to the Lugnuts winning two of the first three games in the series while the Kernels won all three games at Beloit, including a doubleheader sweep on Thursday.

The game-winning blow, as it turned out, was routine – a Joshua Kuroda-Grauer groundout to first that brought in zombie runner CJ Rodriguez from third base in the top of the 10th inning.

In the bottom of the 10th, with Henry Gómez on the mound, Daniel Vazquez struck out and Rodriguez threw out runner Erick Torres at third. A strikeout of Sam Kulasingam later, and the Nuts had ended the first half on a triumphant note, finishing second in the division behind West Michigan.

The game began with the latest sterling effort from Judkins, a native of Pella, Iowa, who was named the Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year in the state in 2016, going on to distinguish himself at the University of Iowa before signing with the A’s in 2020. Judkins fanned four batters while limiting the River Bandits to three hits, three walks and two runs in six innings, matching his career high.

A Jared Dickey sac fly and Rodriguez RBI walk broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh, but the River Bandits put up solo tallies in the seventh and eighth innings against Jake Christianson and Hunter Breault to retie the game.

Left fielder Nate Nankil led a 13-hit Lansing attack – all singles save for a Dickey ninth-inning double – going 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. T.J. Schofield-Sam, Ryan Lasko and Kuroda-Grauer added two-hit performances.

When Friday dawns, the win-loss records for all Midwest League clubs will be reset to 0-0 for the 66-game second half. Lugnuts right-hander Nathan Dettmer faces River Bandits right-hander Logan Martin at 7:30 p.m. / 6:30 local time.

The Lugnuts wrap up the road series on Sunday and 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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