The Diamond Devils jumped out to an early three nothing lead, but the River Bandits rebounded forcing the Devils to scramble for a late inning win.

The Devils started the scoring in the second inning. Adam Gregg led off the inning with a single. Due up next was Brandon Schliinz who drove a ball deep to center. Rockford’s centerfielder Cole Hansen, who was playing in medium center, almost made a spectacular over the shoulder catch but the ball bounced off his glove giving the Devils a one run lead and a runner at third. The Devils score their second and final run in Matt Duenwald’s at bat when he doubled to deep right center.

The visitors added to the lead in the third. With two outs, Brad Mazer double to left field and then scored when Adam Gregg hit a ground ball to third. The third baseman going to his left came up with the ball and threw a catchable ball to first but the ball got by the first basemen could not make the play giving the Devils an unearned run.

The Devil’s starting pitcher, CJ Goodwald had it on cruise control having shutdown the Bandits through four innings on 39 pitches. However, the fifth would be a four run 26 pitch inning for the Devil’s starter. The Bandit’s Dusty Littlefield began the inning with a single. CJ hit the next batter, Josh Kuehn, with a pitch. The Bandits scored a run when Jason Lesser’s ground ball was fielded cleanly but the throw to first was misplayed by the Devil’s first baseman allowing Jason to reach first, Dusty to score and Josh to move up to third. Jason moved up to second on a ground ball out to CJ. Next, Cole Hansen walked on four straight pitches to load the bases. A single to center by Anthony Miller scored two runs and a sac fly to center gave the Bandits their four runs and the lead.

The Devils tied the game in the fifth inning. With two outs, Brandon Schliinz hit a double to right center. Brandon scored in Matt Duenwald’s at bat when he hit a pitch between third and short. The shortstop came up with the ball and made a good throw to first but once again the first baseman could not come up with the catch allowing Brandon to score the tying run.

The Devils scored the go ahead run in the top of the ninth. Ryan Dwyer lead off the inning with a walk. KC Johnson sac bunted Ryan to second. Matt Goodwald hit a flare to right freezing Ryan between second and third. Once the ball hit the ground Ryan started for third. Even though the right fielder came up with the ball in shallow right, manager John Timpe waved Ryan around third. For some reason, with Ryan just past third the fielder never made the throw home giving the Devils a one run lead.

The Bandits had a great chance to win this game in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Josh Kuehn singled and was followed by Jason Lesser who doubled to put runners at second and third. The Devils pulled the infield in for Nate McPherson’s at bat. Nate did his job and hit a chopper to the right side of the infield. With both runners on the move, the Devil’s second baseman Brandon Schlinnz ranged to his left and came up with the ball. He fired the ball to Mazer at home to deny the Bandits the tying run. With two outs, Cole Hansen hit a ground ball to CJ who flipped the ball to first to earn the complete game victory.