Silver Hawks soar past River Bandits

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By Steve Batterson | Monday, April 14, 2008 12:32 AM CDT | () comments

Quad-Cities second baseman Mike Folli gets South Bend’s Evan Frey out but can’t make the throw to first for a double play. (Jeff Cook/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

In the clubhouse next door to the one where South Bend manager Mark Haley worked over a juicy cheeseburger after his team’s game Sunday, the Quad-Cities River Bandits were enjoying a heaping helping of humble pie.

“The food tastes a lot better today,” Haley said after watching his team end its season-opening nine-game losing streak with an 11-1 win at Modern Woodman Park.

The Midwest League rout came one day after Quad-Cities pounded 16 hits on its way to a 9-2 victory over the Silver Hawks.

On Sunday, the River Bandits finished with four hits including a pair of two-out singles in the ninth inning.

“Just when you think you’ve got this game figured out, it usually teaches you a lesson,” Quad-Cities manager Steve Dillard said. “It’s not going to be rosy every day. You’re going to have a lot of rough ones, and this was one of those.’’

The River Bandits found that to be the case even before the crowd of 2,609 had a chance to settle into its seats.

South Bend scored twice before Quad-Cities could put the first out of the game in the books, pouncing on an erratic start by Cardoza Tucker and a porous defense.

“Nothing worked,” Dillard said. “We didn’t get the pitching, we didn’t catch the ball, and we didn’t hit it well against a team that was due. Sooner or later, you knew they would break out. Our hope was that it would happen later.”

It didn’t.

A pair of errors after a single by Mike Mee scored two runs and Ramon Ramirez drove home a third with a two-out single to left.

Tucker walked three batters in the third, ending a 21/3-inning start with the bases loaded.

They didn’t stay that way for long. Reliever Pete Parise got Konrad Schmidt to pop out, but Matt Oxendine deposited the first grand slam of his career over the fence in left-center to leave the River Bandits in an 8-0 hole.

“Oxendine is an older guy, a player who is repeating at this level, and it was good to see him lead the way and say follow me. We needed something like that to happen,” Haley said.

“You could see guys pressing, trying anything to get us going. Last Sunday, we had five guys show up for Baseball Chapel. This week, the entire team was there. Whatever it takes.’’

Sunday, the combination of 14 hits and a strong start by right-hander Josh Collmenter was all it took to break South Bend’s early-season funk.

Collmenter surrendered the only two hits the River Bandits managed through eight innings during his five-inning start. He struck out four and walked one.

Charlie Pelt provided Quad-Cities with its lone run, belting a solo homer to right off of Collmenter in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“He kept throwing me change-ups, so I just sat on it. I battled off a couple of fastballs and he left a change-up down the middle and was able to put a good swing on it,” Pelt said.

“He did a good job of mixing things up, especially early, and it was tough to figure out exactly what he was going to come with next. He made it tough on us, but that’s the good thing about baseball. There’s another chance tomorrow.”

River Bandits scoreboard

The score

South Bend 11, Quad-Cities 1

On deck

Quad-Cities River Bandits at Clinton LumberKings, 7 p.m., today, Alliant Energy Field, Clinton, Iowa. Probable pitchers: Quad-Cities, Shaun Garceau (0-1, 2.70); Clinton, Evan Reed (1-0, 0.00). Miller Lite Monday

Dropping the ball

Quad-Cities committed a season-high four errors Sunday — equaling the team’s hit total.

Beau Riportella was charged with two errors for a drop and a high throw that led to two runs in South Bend’s three-run first inning.

A throwing error on third baseman Domnit Bolivar allowed the Silver Hawks’ final run to score in the seventh inning.

One time through

With Sunday’s start by Cardoza Tucker, each of the eight pitchers in the River Bandits’ tandem-starter rotation have made one start and relieved once.

One arm short

Quad-Cities was without reliever Wayne Daman on Sunday.

Daman has been granted a leave because of the death of a toddler in his family. He is expected to return to the River Bandits later this week.

Quad-Cities has 13 pitchers on its roster and with a scheduled off day Thursday, manager Steve Dillard believes the team has plenty of arms to get by until Daman returns.

Rising tide

With the Mississippi River rising toward flood stage in the Quad-Cities, the portable flood wall at Modern Woodmen Park has been put in place for the first time since the stadium was renovated in 2004.

The European-style protection was installed mostly as a precautionary measure in case the river rises beyond current projections.

In the books

Sunday’s crowd of 2,609 — the second-largest of the season — included 1,500 graduates of the River Bandits’ Book Buddies Club. Schools in attendance included Lourdes Catholic, Wilson, Calamus-Wheatland, Bishop Hayes Catholic and Trinity Lutheran.

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.