[dropcap]W[/dropcap]est Michigan and Quad Cities split a doubleheader Tuesday with the Whitecaps winning game one for their fourth consecutive win while the the River Bandits won the second in extra innings.
Despite trailing 4-2 after four innings in the first game, the Whitecaps battled back with a 13-hit attack and an outstanding performance from the bullpen. Ben Verlander went 2-for-4 with two RBIs on the day, doubling home the ‘Caps first run in the fourth and later adding the go-ahead single in the fifth for a 5-4 lead.
Dominic Ficociello and Wynton Bernard had three hits each, with Bernard adding two doubles and a pair of scored runs to spark a three-run rally in the fifth and adding an insurance run in the sixth.
After starter Jeff Thompson exited the game with a 4-2 deficit, the bullpen picked up the slack on the mound.
Relievers Matt Davenport (1-1) and Joe Mantiply (2) combined to retire the final 10 batters of the game with Davenport picking up the win. Davenport finished the fourth with a bounce-out that stranded all three runners and got three more ground outs in the fifth for the 1-2-3.
Mantiply handled the rest of the game, retiring the bottom third of the River Bandits batting order and set down the top of the lineup in the seventh for the save.
West Michigan won game one with a final score of 6-4.
Game Two
The second game snapped the Whitecaps’ four-game winning streak when the River Bandits won 2-1 in an extra inning, totaling 15 for the day.
With the game tied at 1-1, Quad Cities managed to finally breakthrough the West Michigan pitching attack in the bottom of the eighth. Jon Kemmer lined a leadoff double to left against ‘Caps reliever Scott Sitz. After a pitching change and a sacrifice bunt, Austin Elkins knocked the first pitch he saw from Julio Felix over the center fielder’s head for the 2-1 walk-off win.
Sitz (1-1) took the loss, giving up his first earned run of the season, while Quad Cities reliever Andrew Walter (1-1) threw two scoreless innings to earn the win.
Kevin Ziomek took the start in the second game, bouncing back from a rough Midwest League debut to put together a strong outing. Ziomek allowed just one unearned run on two hits with five strikeouts in five innings pitched. The only run against him came in the third, when a pair of fielding errors by shortstop Willy Adames gave the River Bandits a 1-0 lead.
Javier Betancourt and Raph Rhymes tallied consecutive singles to open the top of the fourth. The runners
were at the corners later in the frame when they pulled off a successful double steal to tie the game at 1-1.
The West Michigan Whitecaps (7-5) and Quad Cities River Bandits will play the final game of a three-game series tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET at Modern Woodmen Park. RHP Chad Green (0-0, 3.27 ERA) is slated to get the start for West Michigan while RHP Michael Feliz (1-0, 7.20 ERA) will take the mound for Quad Cities.
