Game Recap: Menomonie comes back vs. Bandits

The River Bandits broke out an early 2-0 versus the Menomonie Eagles on Saturday, July 10th at SCF. Nick Johnson and Gus Koecher led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and double, with Koecher's double scoring Johnson. Koecher stole third base and then was able to beat out the throw to home and a Matt Vold fielder's choice.

Jim Rochford started on the hill for the Bandits and had a decent outing. Rochford scattered three hits through the first three innings. Rochford ran into trouble in the fourth inning after issuing a one-out walk to Luke Welch, Cory Hastings hit a 1-1 curveball out of the park, tying the score at two a piece. Rochford pitched a solid fifth inning before hitting a brick wall in the sixth.

Luke Welch reached on an error and then Rochford walked Hastings on four straight pitches. Ned Welch then sac bunted the runners over to second and third base. Rochford then walked the next two batters, walking in a run. Will Ball came in relief and was able to strikeout Andy Lorenzen for the second out of the inning. Luke Schultz came through for the Eagles, hitting a bases clearing double with two outs. The Bandits were able to get Schultz out as he was trying to stretch a double into a triple for the final out of the inning.

The Eagles added another run to pad their lead in the top of the seventh inning with a sacrifice fly by Cory Hastings.

Nick Johnson started a two-out rally for the Bandits in the bottom of the seventh inning by drawing a walk. Gus Koecher followed with a single, and a throwing error allowed each runner to advance a base. Matt Vold then hit a single, knocking in RBIs number two and three for the day. Steve Siqueiros drew walk to put runner on second and first base. The Eagles were able to get out of the inning after a Michael VanderPlas hot-shot to third base, well fielded by Luke Welch, was thrown out at first.

The Bandits had baserunners in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth inning but could not get the runs across, dropping the game by a score of 7-4.

The Bandits had eight hits and drew six walks, but left too many runners on the base paths. Rochford pitched well up to the sixth inning where he disassembled at the limbs. Maybe three times through the lineup should be his max. I'm not saying the the Bandits should have won this game, I'm saying that they could have. The big inning strikes again.

***NOTES***

Box Scores Here

Game Balls

1. Gus Koecher: 3-4, 2R, 2B, 2SB, BB

2. Matt Vold: 2-5, 3RBI

3. Cory Gebhard: your stick hasn't heated up yet, but you are literally everywhere on defense. 4 assist, 7 putouts, numerous sprint/hustle plays to back plays up.

WoW Play of the Day:
This is more of a whoa, statistical line of the day, Steve Siqueiros went 0-1, with 4 walks. In his previous 71 plate appearances, he had walked only four times. Way to up the OBP Steve!

Unheralded Hero(es) of the Game:
Good crowd today at the SCF field, thanks to all of the concessioneers and fan!

Players Missing In Action:
Adam Lewis - the guy has to work sometime..
Michael Chelberg - so you were either dying or playing softball - one of the two.