St. Croix River Bandits Finale vs. Osceola Braves: Sun July 26th 7:30pm

The St. Croix River Bandits (3-12 conference, 4-18 overall) will once again travel to Oakey Park to face the Osecola Braves (7-6) this season, except this time as the home team. The original game was scheduled for Saturday afternoon at St. Croix Falls, but due to a scheduling conflict with many Braves players, the game has been rescheduled for the following evening at 7:30. The Braves have three remaining conference games (vs. Ellsworth (8-7) Friday night, @ Menomonie (8-7) Sunday noon, and then back to face the Bandits Sunday evening.) and as it stands they will need to win two of the remaining three games to be post-season eligible. The Braves face a daunting task as the Menomonie Eagles also need another victory to assure a playoff spot, and even though Ellsworth is guaranteed as playoff berth because they are hosting a regional, I'm sure they will want to finish the season out 9-7, proving to themselves that they belong.

The Bandits will try to play the part of the spoiler on Sunday evening, The Bandits will start Trevor Todd on the mound for the 2nd time this season against the Braves. Todd is 2-5 this season with an ERA of 3.42 in his last 4 starts, pitching 31 innings and striking out 32 batters. Todd faced the Braves last on July 8th, where he allowed 4 early runs, and shut down the Braves for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, Braves pitchers Ross Benitz and Jacob Kiehl bested the Bandits hitters, allowing only 6 baserunners and 2 runs in the 4-2 Bandits loss.

Projected Bandits Starting Lineup (7/23/09)

CF Gus Koecher .333

RF Scott Lindholm .247

SS Matt Vold .500

C Steve Siqueiros .225

3B Kyle Kahl .298

P Trevor Todd .243

2B Curtis Roebuck .178

1B Jeff Johnson .140

LF Michael Chelberg .167