Bandits Walk-Off Cubs on Dropped Third Strike

Davenport, Iowa – A walk-off dropped third strikeout from Bandits center fielder Parker Bates sealed a 2-1 win over the South Bend Cubs in the series finale on Sunday at Modern Woodmen Park.

The win came after Quad Cities blew a 1-0 ninth-inning lead with the Cubs down to their final strike of the game.

Right-hander Anderson Paulino entered the ninth with a save opportunity and retired the first two South Bend hitters before allowing a two-out single to left fielder Owen Caissie. A wild pitch from Paulino moved Caissie to second who scored on a two-strike RBI single by catcher Pablo Aliendo to tie the game 1-1.

The Bandits answered in the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff single from Morgan McCullough against Cubs’ reliever Eduarniel Nunez. The South Bend righty got the next two hitters, Juan Carlos Negret and Rubendy Jaquez to flyout, respectively, before walking Burhle Dixon and Herard Gonzalez to load the bases with Bates coming to the plate.

With two outs and the game-winning run 90 feet away, Bates worked a full count before striking out on a pitch that went past Aliendo behind the plate. After realizing the situation, Bates hustled down the first baseline and beat Paulino’s throw to the bag.

Paulino was tagged with a blown save, but got the win after the Bandits’ ninth-inning rally.

Lost in the chaos of the walk-off win is another solid pitching performance from Quad Cities. Bandits’ starter Patrick Halligan and reliever Jack Aldrich combined for eight shutout innings, scattering 10 Cubs’ hits with no walks. Halligan tossed 5.1 innings, allowing six hits while Aldrich threw 2.1 innings with two hits and three strikeouts.

Catcher Kale Emshoff notched the Bandits first hit of the game in the bottom of the second, a double to begin the inning off Cubs’ starter DJ Hertz. Emshoff advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from third baseman Morgan McCullough and later scored on an RBI sac-fly from right fielder Juan Carlos Negret to give the Bandits a 1-0 lead. The RBI was Negret’s 25th of the season and his tenth RBI in his last seven games.

Hertz was pulled after just 2.2 innings allowing one hit, one earned run, with two walks and three strikeouts on 51 pitches.

Second baseman Herard Gonzalez and McCullough tallied two of the Bandits’ three hits, both were singles.

Sunday’s walk-off win capped off a 4-2 series win for Bandits against South Bend.

The Bandits (25-38) will look to carry the momentum when they hit the road for a six-game series against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (34-28) beginning June 21.

First pitch between Quad Cities and Wisconsin is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. at Fox Cities Stadium.