South Bend Cubs Homestand Preview: July 4-9

Home sweet home. It’s good to be back in Downtown South Bend for some home cooking after the South Bend Cubs battled the Beloit Sky Carp up in Wisconsin in the last six games. It was one of the most highly competitive series of the year, and featured nearly every game being winnable for either side. Some late rallies and timely hitting gave Beloit a number of wins, and they rode the wave to taking five or six games.

It wasn’t your classic series where one team dominated. The Cubs were in just about every game. The two clubs played 14 innings on Wednesday, Beloit came back to win two separate games in the middle of the week, and on Monday, it was the 9th inning steal of home by Kahlil Watson that tied the game. And then a walk-off hit from Davis Bradshaw won it.

So, that’s in the rearview mirror, and ahead now are the Peoria Chiefs. South Bend has some ground to make up. The Chiefs are tied for first place with Beloit, and the Cubs are four games back. Some success this week against Peoria means South Bend is right back in it.

It will take a solid performance against a Peoria bunch that is playing with energy. It will be Peoria’s second time in South Bend this year, and the Cubs took four games out of the series.

Kevin Alcántara has really turned on the jets in the last month. He hit over .300 in June, he took 10 of his 17 walks last month too. And he is batting .313 in his last five games. That’s with a 1.200 OPS too.

Felix Stevens crushed a long home run 440-feet away dead-center on Monday in Beloit in the 9th inning. It was nearly enough to win the game for the Cubs, but Stevens has had his best stretch since being called up to South Bend, and this could be a big series for him.

And on the mound, Cade Horton has been magical. He’s the reigning Midwest League Player of the Week. Take a peek at the numbers in his last five starts.

He’s 3-1, with an ERA at 0.76, and in 23.2 innings he has given up two earned runs, 12 hits, has walked seven, and struck out 38. Batters are hitting .148 in that stretch. The guy has been electric, and he’ll look to continue that this week.

South Bend needs some W’s. There have been some highly successful series played between the Cubs and Chiefs, especially in the last year. Last season, South Bend swept Peoria in six games. That will be difficult to do again, but the Cubs can get back on track right here at home beginning on a beautiful 4th of July day.

Schedule…

Tuesday, July 4 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Brandon Birdsell vs RHP Trent Baker

Wednesday, July 5 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Cade Horton vs RHP Dionys Rodriguez

Thursday, July 6 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Michael Arias vs RHP Max Rajcic

Friday, July 7 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Connor Noland vs RHP Zane Mills

Saturday, July 8 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Luis Devers vs LHP Alex Cornwell

Sunday, July 9 - 2:05 PM ET: RHP Brody McCullough vs RHP Ian Bedell

Catch the entire six-game series against Peoria on Sports Radio 960 AM WSBT, online at wsbtradio.com, or on MiLB.com with Max Thoma and Brendan King on the call.