Walked Off In 12

DAVENPORT, IA (April 26, 2019) - A back-and-forth contest ended with a 7-6 Clinton LumberKings loss to the Quad Cities River Bandits on Friday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Alex Holderbach was the hero for Quad Cities (11-9) with a two-run home run in the 12^th that was his first long fly of the year.
The River Bandits raced out to an early 3-0 lead against LumberKings (11-9) starter Manuel Rodriguez. Two unearned runs scored on a throwing error by Christopher Torres with two out in the first and Austin Dennis singled home the third run in the third to stake Quad Cities to three run lead.
The LumberKings had little to show for their time at the plate against River Bandits starter Cody Deason. The right-hander struck out seven over his 3.2 innings of work but ran into trouble during his final frame out. Sean Reynolds walked and Will Banfield singled to open the inning and moved to second and third on a Bubba Hollins ground out. Ricardo Cespedes then bounced a ball through the right side of the infield for a two-run single that cut the deficit to one.
The game remained 3-2 River Bandits until the ninth when Thomas Jones slugged his second home run of the season on the first pitch of the ninth inning.
The home run forced extra innings and began a back-and-forth tilt that made it the longest game in both innings played, 12, and time of game, 4 hours and 26 minutes - of the year.
Both teams went scoreless in the 10^th before Clinton broke the 3-3 tie on an RBI single by Cespedes - his third RBI of the game. The run that came in was Will Banfield who was assigned to run the bases at second as part of Minor League Baseball's extra inning rules.
Quad Cities tied the game in the bottom of the inning on an RBI fielder's choice that cashed in their free base runner from second.
Clinton looked to pull away in the top of the 12^th on a two-run RBI double by Jerar Encarnacion. The LumberKings then loaded the bases with nobody out against River Bandits reliever Devin Conn. Conn (1-0), sidestepped the big trouble with a fielder's choice out at the plate and two straight strikeouts that gave Quad Cities 21 for the game.
Tyler Mitzel came back out to work the bottom of the 12^th, his second inning of work, and allowed the first run of the inning to score on a David Hensely RBI single. Four pitches later Alex Holderbach ended the game with a two-run homer to left to walk-off the LumberKings 7-6 in 12 innings.
LumberKings pitching combined to strikeout 15 River Bandits to bring the game total of strikeouts to 36 between the two teams.
The LumberKings will now meet the Quad Cities River Bandits for a rare day-night doubleheader on Saturday. Both games will be seven inning affairs with game one beginning at noon and game two beginning at approximately at 5:00 p.m. Clinton will throw right-handed pitcher Chris Vallimont (1-0, 2.84) in game one and righty Alberto Guerrero (1-0, 5.25) for the second game. The River Bandits will go with right handers Luis Garcia (0-0, 3.46) in game one and Brett Daniels (1-1, 6.10) in game two. Fans looking to listen to the game can hear Erik Oas on the call at 100.3 FM WCCI and online at lumberkings.com via the tunein radio ap at 11:45 a.m. with the pregame show.
 
About the LumberKings
The Clinton LumberKings, the only remaining Charter Member of the Midwest League, are preparing for their 64^thseason in the league and their first year of affiliation with the Miami Marlins. Since the club's inception in 1937, 281 former Clinton players have gone on to reach the Major Leagues. Advertising and tickets for the 2019 season are available by calling (563)242-0727 or by visiting LumberKings.com