Game Recap - River Bandits swirling towards despair.

The St. Croix River Bandits (0-6, 0-11) have been devastated by this weekend's baseball events. Nothing seems to be clicking for the Bandits, whose inconsistent plate appearances have yielded an average of only 2.45 runs every nine innings. The Bandits are batting .192 as a team- 30 points lower than last season. Fielding has seen an error increase of one full error more per game than 2008. Pitching has been racked by injuries, with SCVBL ace Jay Gagner having missed the last month's worth of games with elbow trouble, Bandits #2, Adam Lewis also experiencing soreness, and #3, Jim Rochford, missing away games due to the recent birth of his 2nd child. The Bandits have had surprise production on the mound from Michael Chelberg (ERA 3.37 in 10+ innings). But one pitcher cannot make up for 3 missing ones, especially the calibur of Gagner, who is on every team's radar come drafting time before the playoffs.

It all accumulated into a perfect storm on Sunday afternoon in River Falls. As usual, lead off hitter Scott Lindholm was able to get onto first base in the first inning (via Fish error), and after a passed ball allowed him to attain 2nd, scored on a Steve Siqueiros RBI single. This would mark the 3rd game in a row where Lindholm reached base and scored in the first inning. Unfortunately those 3 runs account for almost 50% of the runs scored in each of the last 3 games. In fact, the Bandits have scored 5 runs total in the first inning of those games, and combined 3 runs in the other 22 innings. The Bandits finished the day with a disappointing 2 hits and 7 strikeouts.

Newly acquired pitcher JR Switala had to start the game as the Bandits had 6 either missing or used other pitchers. Switala had a rough outing, allowing 3 hits, 3 walks, and hitting 2 batters in 1.2 innings, giving up 7 runs - 4 earned. The Bandits did get a sizeable effort on the mound from SS Kyle Kahl and C Steve Siqueiros who combined to give up 4 runs, only 1 earned.

Bandits on the field were just as poor. The Bandits had 5 errors on the game, and a few other misplays in the field.

Not much good can be taken from the worst performance by the entire team in Bandits history. Kyle Kahl and Steve Siqueiros did a fabulous job on the mound for 2 guys who rarely see it. Hats off to River Falls for not charging the pitcher on the 4th hit by pitch of the day (although Kyle Kahl was on the mound at that point - don't charge that guy!). The Bandits will try to rebound on Tuesday, if it isn't rained out, in a 7 inning pick up game in Siren. The Bandits have a three game weekend, including a home game Sunday in a rematch versus River Falls, where Jim Rochford will take the mound and make the Fish swing at the ball.

NOTES

Game Balls

1. Steve Siqueiros - pitched, caught, hit.

2. You, the reader.

3. The Bandit Mobile for continuing to truck along.

WOW Play of the Day

The whole game: KK and Steve on the mound, Jake Larcom playing SS, a Wampfler, Vandy, Chelberg outfield, 11 runs given up on 5 hits.

Players Missing in Action
Jay Gagner: broken
Trevor Todd: tokin'
Gus Koecher: hayin'
Matt Vold: playin'
Jim Rochford: rearin'
Will Ball: disappearin'
Curtis Roebuck: workin'
Chris Chelberg: jerkin'
John Peterson: nappin'
Joe Holman: crappin'