Burlington Bees at Quad City River Bandits
April 26th, 2002
| Burlington |
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0 |
0 |
1 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
1 |
7 |
2 |
| Quad City |
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0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
2 |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
X |
|
|
2 |
6 |
1 |
E-Shanks, Gomez, Kuhaulua, LOB BUR-7, QC-3, 2B-Guzman, Draper 2, Sandoval, Agar, Tamburrino, SB-Tomlin, CS-Tomlin, SACB-Cleveland
SO-Groves, Arnerich, Figuereo, Guzman 2, Gomez 2, Mauer, Agar, Tamburrino
T-2:10, A-614
Quad City Times
by Jon Gremmels
Cory Agar is no stranger to extra base hits as a professional baseball player. They have not been a common sight for him or his Quad City teammates this season, however.
"Everyone knows there's only one way to go, up" he said. "It's just a matter of time before the hitting comes around."
The River Bandits, who entered the game with a .210 batting average and 32 extra base hits in their first 19 games, managed just six hits Friday night.
But they bunched three of them all doubles among the first four batters in the fifth inning and emerged with a 2-1 victory against Burlington in Midwest League baseball at John O'Donnell Stadium.
"We knew the pitcher (loser Chris Tierney) was going to be around the plate." Agar said, "It was just a matter of adjusting."
Michael Sandoval made the first adjustment, leading off the fifth with the third hit off Tierney, a double into the right field corner. One out later, Agar lined a double into left field, scoring Sandoval to tie the game at 1-1.
"I got a pitch I could handle and got the job done," he said.
Brett Tamburrino followed with a blooper into shallow centerfield. Centerfielder James Shanks tried to make a sliding, shoestring catch but the ball dropped in front of him. Tamburrino had an easy double on the hit, but the situation was a little more dicey for Agar.
"You're kind of caught between a rock and a hard place," he said, "You want to get far enough off second base to advance, but you have to be able to get back if the catch is made."
With Agar getting a late jump, Shanks tried to throw him out at third base, but the throw sailed to the fence and Agar ran home with the go ahead run.
Quad City got just one more hit, but the two base flurry was enough to carry them to within half a game of Burlington for seventh place in the Western Division standings.
"The batting average is a bit suprising because in spring training we were pretty hot," said Agar, who led Minnesota's rookie league team in Elizabethton with 15 doubles and 33 RBIs last year and was second with eight home runs while batting .275. "The weather is starting to warm up now, and I think the bats are doing the same."