Bandits forced to hit the road
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By Steve Batterson | Sunday, May 11, 2008 |
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Izaak Murray had his choice of seats Monday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
He had his choice of about 5,300 of them as the Quad-Cities River Bandits and Lansing Lugnuts played a Midwest League game on the home diamond of the Cedar Rapids Kernels.
Six people were in the stands when the first pitch was thrown. The game was hastily relocated to Cedar Rapids around midday Monday because of flooding that forced the River Bandits out of their home stadium in Davenport. The Bandits scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to pull out a 4-3 victory.
“I was checking out the linescore from the last Kernels game online and saw that there was going to be a game here, so I came to check it out,” said Murray, a Cedar Rapids resident who is a regular in the stands when the Kernels play at home.
The late scheduling combined with a 39-degree game-time temperature and a biting north wind all but eliminated the chance of other fans following Murray’s lead.
“I don’t how long I’ll stick it out — it feels more like March — but it’s baseball and I’m a big minor league fan. I grew up watching the Kernels,” said Murray, who chased down a foul ball
during the game’s early innings.
Seated eight rows behind the dugout, Murray had plenty of room to roam. He was the only person sitting in four sections of bright-red seats down the third-base line.
There were a few other fans elsewhere in the ballpark.
A couple showed up early in hopes of shagging autographs from players, the parents of River Bandits pitcher Thomas Eager huddled under a blanket from seats behind home plate, and a few others filed in after the game started.
Instead of welcoming a projected crowd in excess of 3,500 to Modern Woodmen Park, River Bandits staff members filled a variety of roles as they assisted Cedar Rapids personnel who helped Quad-Cities host the game.
The voice of Kyle Tobias, the public-address announcer at Modern Woodmen Park, echoed off the seats, and Quad-Cities staff members did everything from helping sell tickets to working as a batboy as they made the best of the situation.
Midwest League president George Spelius made the decision to move the final three games of the current Quad-Cities homestand out of Modern Woodmen Park.
“I have a responsibility to the major league clubs to put their teams in comparable facilities as these situations arise,” Spelius said. “For three games, I feel this is a workable situation for everybody involved.”
In addition to playing Monday night at Cedar Rapids, Quad-Cities faces Lansing at noon today in Clinton (Iowa) and will play the Lugnuts at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Duane Banks Field at the University of Iowa.
River Bandits general manager Kirk Goodman expressed disappointment that games were not allowed to continue at Modern Woodmen Park.
“The city had a great plan in place to get people into the park, and we wanted to play the games, but the league decided that they needed to be moved,” Goodman said.
Initially, Monday’s game was going to be moved to Clinton, but logistical problems led to a midday switch that sent the teams to Cedar Rapids.
“The other teams in the league have been unbelievably supportive. We’ve had offers of assistance from Peoria, Burlington, Clinton and Cedar Rapids,” Goodman said.
“For the Cedar Rapids folks to be able to turn this around in less than eight hours, I can’t say enough. It speaks to the type of good and supportive people that work in this league.“
Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
Ticket information
Tickets for River Bandits home games being played at noon today at Clinton and at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Iowa City are priced at $5 each.
Fans who previously purchased tickets for games in the Quad-Cities on Monday through Wednesday can either use those tickets at the alternate sites or exchange them for tickets to any River Bandits home game later this season.
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