Neuweiler, Marquez Lead Bandits in Win Over Cubs 

Davenport, Iowa – The Quad Cities River Bandits rode the pitching performances of Charlie Neuweiler and Emilio Marquez to a 6-1 win over the South Bend Cubs on Friday night to guarantee themselves a split of the six-game series.

The Bandits got creative with their base running to open the game’s offense against Cubs’ starter Kohl Franklin, as with men on first and third and two outs, Morgan McCullough broke for a steal of second base and drew a throw from South Bend catcher Casey Opitz which allowed Shrum to score from third, beating the throw back to the plate.

In the third inning, Neuweiler gave up the lone run in his second consecutive 6.0-inning start when the Cubs tied the game on Yeison Santana’s RBI groundout.

For South Bend, Franklin’s start lasted 3.0 innings and saw the righty give way to Joe Nahas, who, in his first inning on the bump, loaded the bases with no one out, but yielded just a sac-fly to Morgan McCullough which limited the damage to a 2-1 Bandits’ lead.

In the fifth though, Quad Cities offense tagged the reliever for three on Luca Tresh’s RBI single and a Kale Emshoff two-run homer, his ninth of the season.

After Neuweiler concluded his outing with his fourth and fifth strikeouts in a one-two-three sixth, left-hander Emilio Marquez stranded a pair of walks in a scoreless seventh for the Bandits, before Diego Hernandez added another with an RBI fielder’s choice off of Jarod Wright to push the advantage to 6-1.

The five-run lead proved more than enough for Marquez, as he concluded his ninth and tenth consecutive scoreless innings out of the bullpen by stranding a runner in the eighth and ninth to secure his third save of the season.

With 6.0 innings of one-run ball including five strikeouts, Neuweiler (4-5) got the win and collected his third quality start of the season.

Nahas (2-2) took the loss for South Bend after allowing four runs in 3.0 innings of relief.

Quad Cities will look for its fourth series win of the season with a victory on Sunday, as Patrick Halligan (1-2, 5.14) will get the ball against the Cubs’ DJ Herz (1-1, 2.09) for a 1:00pm first pitch at Modern Woodmen Park.