River Bandits Shut Out Dragons in Game One of Championship Series
Davenport, Iowa – In their final game of the year at Modern Woodmen Park, the Quad Cities River Bandits brought themselves one win away from their ninth league title in franchise history and blanked the Dayton Dragons 4-0 in Game One of the Midwest League Championship Series. Quad Cities’ starter
Davenport, Iowa – In their final game of the year at Modern Woodmen Park, the Quad Cities River Bandits brought themselves one win away from their ninth league title in franchise history and blanked the Dayton Dragons 4-0 in Game One of the Midwest League Championship Series.
Quad Cities’ starter Tanner Jones set the tone on the mound, tossing 4.2-scoreless innings in his first-career postseason start and retired 12 of the first 14 Dayton hitters of the ballgame.
After Asbel Gonzalez singled and Zion Rose walked to begin the bottom of the first, the River Bandits got out to a 2-0 lead against JP Ortiz on a Johnny Ascanio error and Ramon Ramirez’s sacrifice-fly.
Quad Cities stranded the bases loaded in the second inning, but added to its lead in the third with small ball, as Nolan Sailors executed a safety squeeze to bring in Derlin Figueroa and push the Bandits ahead 3-0.
Blake Mitchell extended Quad Cities’ advantage to 4-0 in the fourth, driving in Gonzalez with an RBI-double into the right-field corner against Brady Afthim.
While Mitchell’s two-bagger wound up the Bandits’ final hit of the game, the four-run lead was more than enough for Quad Cities bullpen. After Kamden Edge helped Jones complete the fifth, Jordan Woods worked 3.0-scoreless frames, struck out four, and got help from a 6-4-3 double play to escape a bases-loaded jam in the eighth.
LP Langevin closed out the game in the ninth, striking out the side for his third-straight scoreless relief appearance in the postseason.
Since the start of the playoffs, Quad Cities’ relievers have combined to allow just two runs over 15.0 innings with 21 strikeouts.
Woods (1-0) earned the win for the Bandits, while Ortiz (0-1) was saddled with the loss for the Dragons, allowing two runs (one earned) in a 1.2-inning start.
Quad Cities will look to secure the 2026 Midwest Championship Tuesday night in Dayton and sends David Shields (0-0, 6.00) for the Game Two start. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. ET at Day Air Ballpark.