Game Recap - Bandits Get First Conference Win, 8-5 over Quamba.

The St. Croix River Bandits (1-8, 2-12 overall) beat the Quamba Cubs on a windy Sunday afternoon. Mike Leahy made his first start of the season, mostly working in relief appearances prior to this start, and pitched 7 1/3 strong innings for the Bandits. Leahy (1-1) had trouble with control in the first inning, walking two batters who ended up scoring, but settled down nicely allowing only 3 more runs during the rest of his outing. Leahy finished with three strikeouts, only those two walks, and three earned runs.

The Bandits had a good day with the bats, even though it took them a few innings to finally get going against Cubs pitcher Corey Stewart. The Bandits scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 4th and 6th, and had a chance to break the game open when Brian Jacobson hit a line drive screamer above the third baseman's head, with the bases juiced and with 2 outs. But the Cub's corner fielder made a quick reaction and leaped as tall as he could to snag the sure double out of the air.

The Bandits struck again in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring three runs and getting on top for the first time in the game 7-4. The Bandits gave one back in the top of the eighth inning, but Curtis Roebuck came on in relief for Leahy and had a great rest of the eighth and ninth for a save in his pitching outing this season, and first save in Bandits history. The Bandits tacked on one more in the eighth for the 8-5 victory.

*Other Notes

*Full Boxscore Click Here

*Bandits had a pretty full dugout on Sunday, with much of their roster in attendance minus starting corner IF Kyle Kahl, and spot IF Chad Allram.

*Great defensive plays all around the field today

Game Preview - Weekend Preview 6/15-6/17

The St. Croix River Bandits (0-5 conf 1-10 overall) play 4 games in 3 days this weekend starting Friday night at 7:30pm in Isanti (8-0 conf, 14-1 overall). The Redbirds are agruably the best team in the Eastern Minny League at this point. Isanti went 14-6 this year and have roared out of the gates, dropping only 1 game so far this year coming against Coon Rapids. The Redbirds pitching staff has a 2.51 team ERA while throwing 5 starters so far this season, while their team batting average is .287. The Bandits plan on throwing Jim Rochford (1-2) on the mound. Rochford had a fair outing in his last start versus Hinckley, who managed to put the bat on the ball, but he continued to throw strikes and says he feels better every game.

Another tough team awaits the River Bandits on Saturday as the team travels to Mora to face the Blue Devils (6-3) in a doubleheader starting at 2pm. Mora was the 2005 and 2006 North Division champs of the Eastern Minny league, and have held the lead in the North for most of the season. However, they are coming off of two straight losses (to Isanti and Nowthen), and are looking to right their ship. Their pitching staff may only be 4 players deep, but their team ERA is 2.18 with 56 strikeouts in 62 innings is stellar. However, Mora did play on Wednesday, and play again on Sunday, so hopefully the Bandits can take a look at some other pitchers who haven't yet had a chance to throw this season.

The last game of the weekend is on Father's Day in St. Croix Falls versus the Quamba Cubs (1-5 conf, 2-19 overall), in a rematch of the first game of the season. The Bandits look to take revenge from their 8-6 loss in Quamba were they had 15 hits. Walks an errors were the Bandits' downfall during that game, allowing an extra 13 runners to get on base for the Cubs. Trevor Todd is expected to take the mound for the Bandits. Bandits are having a Father's Day special also on Sunday, any father get can 1 free hot dog with a coupon from the Yellow Paper! Come out and see the Bandits!