River Bandits swipe 2-1 win over Cubs in series opener

Davenport, IA: In a position to potentially take sole possession of the first playoff spot in the Midwest League Eastern Division standings, the South Bend Cubs entered Wednesday night's match-up against the Quad Cities River Bandits with an all-business mentality. But in a quick road game in the series opener, the Cubs could not hold on and fell to Quad Cities 2-1 to begin the three game series.

South Bend starter Erling Moreno gave the Cubs six strong innings with just two runs allowed. However, the big right hander walked three and gave up four hits with three of them being doubles. The River Bandits found the gap base hits needed to win a close game like Wednesday's.
On a RBI sac fly from Colton Shaver in the bottom of the 2nd, Quad Cities jumped out to the 1-0 lead. The contest went quiet for the next two innings, but the Cubs came out hot in the 5th with Delvin Zinn getting it started with a single. Zinn now has 23 hits in 22 games with South Bend.
Zinn eventually made it around to second base, giving center fielder Zach Davis an opportunity to hit with the tying run 90-feet away. Facing his former college teammate in starter Parker Mushinski, Davis ripped a single into left field. Zinn sprinted around and tied the game at 1-1.
That would be all the Cubs would get in game one. As a team, South Bend left seven men on base. The River Bandits quickly answered back with a RBI single from Chandler Taylor in the 6th inning.
The one run advantage was all former Notre Dame Fighting Irish pitcher Peter Solomon would need. The righty shut the door with 3.1 innings of scoreless relief and four strikeouts to earn his seventh win of the season. Moreno takes the loss to drop to 0-2.
In his South Bend debut, right hander Jake Steffens was lights out in two shutout innings. Steffens gave up just one hit and picked up a strikeout.
The Cubs will have the opportunity to tie the series tomorrow night at 7:35 p.m. ET when they face the River Bandits in game two of the series from Modern Woodmen Park.