Davenport, Iowa – Ben North launched his first River Bandits home run as part of a three-run River Bandits ninth inning Tuesday, as Quad Cities (54-51, 24-28) walked off the Fort Wayne TinCaps (46-61, 19-22) 5-4 at Modern Woodmen Park.
The Bandits and starter Tanner Jones found themselves trailing four batters into the game after Fort Wayne jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning on Luke Cantwell’s RBI single.
Jones rebounded with a perfect second inning, but the TinCaps struck again in the third, extending their advantage to 3-0 on McCoy’s RBI single and Rosman Verdugo’s sacrifice fly.
Jones delivered a second perfect effort in the fourth and completed his 4.0-inning outing allowing three runs on three hits, three walks and two strikeouts.
Dash Albus took over on the mound for Quad Cities to start the fifth inning, opening his appearance with a one-two-three frame of his own.
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After Fort Wayne starter Luis Gutierrez struck out four over 3.0 scoreless innings, the southpaw turned the ball over to Kannon Kemp. The TinCaps reliever pitched a clean fourth, but saw Zion Rose fire the River Bandits back into the game in the fifth with a two-run double. The swing marked the first-rounder’s first professional extra-base hit and first professional RBI.
Albus kept the 3-2 Bandits deficit intact with a perfect sixth, giving way to Kamden Edge for the seventh.
Though Fort Wayne failed to record a hit after the third inning, two walks, a hit batsman and McCoy’s sacrifice fly elongated Quad Cities’ deficit to 4-2.
Edge’s night lasted 1.1 innings, in which he recorded three strikeouts and one earned run. L.P. Langevin came to his relief amidst the eighth inning.
Langevin retired all but one batter he faced in his hitless 1.2-inning performance, totaling four strikeouts and keeping Quad Cities within one entering the bottom of the ninth.
Kannon Kemp took Fort Wayne all the way through the eighth inning, allowing two runs and striking out a pair over his piggyback start, but Will Varmette was tasked with the bottom of the ninth.
Two pitches into the right-hander’s night, North cut Fort Wayne’s lead to one with his solo shot over the left-field berm.
After following the homer with a walk, Erick Torres came around to score on Asbel Gonzalez’s bunt single, as Varmette’s throwing error tied the game and got Gonzalez all the way to third on the same play.
With the winning run 90 feet away, Rose fell into a 1-2 count, but a wild pitch ended the at-bat and the game, as Gonzalez sprinted in and slid into the plate ahead of Rodriguez’s tag.
The comeback win marked Quad Cities’ fifth walk-off win of the season and the club’s second victory overall when trailing after eight innings this year.
L.P. Langevin (5-3) earned the win for Quad Cities, while Varmette (3-2) was charged with all three of the Bandits’ ninth-inning runs, a blown save and the loss.
Jose Cerice finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate and extended his on-base streak to 32 games, matching the longest streak for a Quad Cities hitter since 2005. Additionally, Blake Mitchell earned his league-leading 100th and 101st walks of the season while pushing an on-base streak of his own to 15 games.
The River Bandits return to action at Modern Woodmen Park on Wednesday for game two of their six-game series against Fort Wayne and send Blake Wolters (3-7, 8.49) to the mound opposite Fort Wayne’s Winyer Chourio (2-4, 9.70). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
