Bandits gear up for end of the season

The St. Croix River Bandits have definitely had an up and down season this year. The Bandits started the season by going 4-2 in their first 6 games, including a conference win over perenial powerhouse Prescott Pirates. The Bandits dropped their next 6 games, before the finishing 2nd in the Bandits Bash Tournament in Cambridge. The Bandits dropped their next 3 games, before a great 4-2 victory over the Bay City Bombers in Bay City. The Bandits unfortunately couldn't carry that momentum over to Wanigan Day's weekend where they lost close games to Osceola and New Richmond.

The Bandits look to close out the season against Menomonie (Friday night @ Menomonie at 7:30pm), the SCF Legion team (Saturday, @ SCF 1pm), and an exhibition versus the Braves at Osceola (Wednesday, @ Osceola 7:00pm)

The Menomonie Eagles have already locked up there spot in the state playoffs 12-1 conference record. The Eagles beat the Bandits 4-1 in their first meeting. No word as to whether the Eagles will look to give their starters a rest or if they will be going full tilt into the playoffs. The Bandits will have Jay Gagner on the mound but unfortunately will be missing some key batters such as OF Mitch Thompson, IF Kyle Kahl, and C Jake Larcom.

The Bandits will try their luck in the battle of SCF on Saturday versus the 18-9 SCF legion team, the Blue A's. The Blue A's are led by Soph. Gus Koecher and Soph. Matt Vold, each batting over .520 for the season. The legion team lost their 9 games this season by a total of 11 runs. Head coach Scott Lindholm says, "There is no reason why this team couldn't have easily gone 26-1, or even 27-0."

The Bandits last game of the season will come against the Osceola Braves in their 3rd meeting of the season. The Braves defeated the Bandits 11-3, and 11-6 in their previous meetings, and hold the historical advantage of winning 4 of 5 games the two teams have played against each other.

Other Notes:
Scott Lindholm is posting a .295 batting average, 54 points higher than last season.
After a cold streak to start the season Curtis Roebuck is batting .315 (6/19 ) in the past 7 games, with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI.
Jay Gagner is averaging 1.4 strikeouts per inning, thats roughly 12 a game.

Wannigan Days Games

Unfortunately I won't be there to watch as I will be in a wedding in Chicago, but the Bandits take on the Osceola Braves on Saturday at 1:00pm and the New Richmond Millers at 1:00pm on Sunday. The Bandits lost the previous meeting to each team by scores of 11-3 and 9-5. The Bandits hope to continue their winning way from last weekend where they defeated conference opponent Bay City 4-2. Good Luck Bandits!

Game Recap - Bandits win as Lewis hits 1st homerun in Bandits history.

It was an exciting day for the Bandits on Sunday as they won there 2nd conference game of the season bringing there conference record up to 2-10, and overall record to 7-12. The Bandits traveled down to Bay City and came out victors of a 4-2 game on a beautiful day for baseball. Jim Jim Rochford started on the mound for the Bandits, coming off an outing against Elmwood where he struggled. Rochford allowed a run in the first inning, after getting 2 outs, Bombers LF Nance, hit a line drive that connected solidily with Rochford's left knee. Nance was able to reach 2nd, as the ball richocheted into foul territory past 3B Kyle Kahl. After a few minutes of testing out his leg, Rochford decided he would try to continue the game. The Bomber cleanup hitter DH Ulvenes followed with a single to right center which scored Nance from 2nd base. The Bombers next batter 1B Wood, hit a double down the right field line, however, RF Mitch Thompson was able to throw Ulvenes out at the plate as he was trying to score from 1st. Rochford faced only 13 batters over the next 4 innings, with only 1 batter reaching on an error.

The Bandits broke out the sticks in the top of the 5th inning. LF Trevor Todd led reached on a one-out single, and was followed by CF Curtis Roebuck flyball to right field that Bombers RF Christianson attempted to dive for. The ball bounced past Christianson and Roebuck ended up with a triple, scoring Todd from 1st. 2B Preston Langer then hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield, scoring Roebuck from 3b, and the Bandits took a 2-1 lead.

The Bombers struck back in the bottom of the 6th inning. Bombers catcher Eaton drew a walk and then stole a base. He was able to score on a 2-out hit by Ulvenes, the only batter that really got to Rochford going 3-4 on the day, and tying the game 2-2.

The Bandits scored again in the top of the 7th inning, Todd reached on a walk, Roebuck reached on a single. 2B Preston Langer dropped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over but the Bombers pitcher fielded the ball nicely and was able to force Todd out at 3B. After RF Mitch Thompson grounded into a fielder's choice, moving Roebuck over to 3b, SS John Peterson hit a sacrifice fly to LF, scoring Roebuck from third.

The Bandits took their 3-2 lead into the 8th inning when Adam Lewis gave the Bandits cushion by driving a 1st pitch fastball over the right center field fence for the Bandits 1st home run in the 49 game history of the Bandits franchise.

Rochford was lifted in the 9th inning after giving up the a lead off single, to the Bomber's Ulvenes, he finished the day with 8 IP, 5 hits, 1 BB, and 5 K. Adam Lewis finished off the game. Lewis did walk the first batter he faced, putting the tying run on on first base. Lewis was able to strike out the next two batters and then induced a flyout to CF Curtis Roebuck to finish the game.

Highlights/Notes
*MVP of the game, many nominations but Adam Lewis gets the nod here as hit hit the first even Bandits homerun, congrats Adam!
*Curtis Roebuck finished a close 2nd going 2-4 with a single, triple, and 2 runs scored.
*The Bandits are 2-0 in conference play when accompanied by an amateur photographer
*The Bandits missed starting LF and CF Michael Chelberg and Scott Lindholm in field and at the plate but Trevor Todd filled in great going 1-3 with a run scored an walk
*The Bandits are a career 3 for 3 in save opportunities.

Concession Help Needed, Saturday 7/19

The Bandits run the concession stand for the 6th grade tournament next weekend at SCF. However, since the Bandits are playing a game that day against Osceola we are going to need some help running the concession stand for the little kids tournament.

We only need three (2 hour) shifts of 2 people between the hours of 10:30am and 4:30pm. 1 person will cook and the other will sell goods. We will assist in the set-up and take down of the concession area which will be by the HS softball field.

The following times need to be filled
10:30am - 12:30pm
12:30pm - 2:30pm
2:30pm - 4:30pm

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