South Bend Takes Series with 7-2 Win

The South Bend Cubs doubled up the Quad Cities River Bandits in the hit column on their way to a decisive 7-2 win in the series finale on Friday night at Modern Woodmen Park. With the win, the Cubs wont the series and claimed the only meeting of the regular season between the two teams.
South Bend jumped ahead in the third inning. Chris Singleton opened the stanza with a double into the gap in right center off of Bandits starter Jairo Solis. With one out, Christian Donahue started his big night by grounding an RBI single up the middle and into center field to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.
The Bandits evened the score with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Two outs walks were worked by both Ruben Castro and David Hensley to get a rally underway. Jonathan Lacroix ran the count full and then lined a base hit into left field to sore Castro and tie the game.

Solis went back out to start the fifth inning and quickly loaded the bases on a single, walk, and hit by pitch. The final batter he faced, Clayton Daniel drove a sacrifice fly into center field to push across a run and make it 2-1 in South Bend's favor.
The Cubs lead grew in the seventh and eighth innings against the Quad Cities bullpen. Luis Garcia surrendered an RBI single to Donahue and a two-run home run to Michael Cruz in the seventh. Humberto Castellanos allowed a sacrifice fly to Austin Upshaw and walked Cruz with the bases loaded to force in another run. After the dust had settled, the Cubs were in front 7-1.
The River Bandits got one run back in the bottom of the eighth, but that was all they could muster as they left the bases loaded. Seth Beer picked up an RBI in the frame with his bouncer to the right side that scored Logan Mattix from third following his leadoff double.
The Bandits were outhit 12-6 by the Cubs. Cruz finished with three runs batted in to lead all players, while Donahue went 3-5 with two RBI.
Solis took the loss after allowing two runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings. He struck out four and walked two. Garcia allowed three runs on three hits and two walks in 1.1 innings. Castellanos surrendered a pair of runs on two hits and three walks in 0.2 innings. Brendan Feldmann struck out three without allowing a baserunner in the final 1.1 frames.
The River Bandits (13-14, 53-44) will open a new series against the West Michigan Whitecaps (12-15, 48-49) at Modern Woodmen Park on Saturday night at 6:35 p.m. The Bandits starting pitcher is scheduled to be RHP J.B. Bukauskas (0-2, 7.94) while West Michigan will turn to RHP Tom de Blok (0-2,3.90).
All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.