DYERSVILLE, Iowa — The Quad Cities River Bandits took the stage at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville and walked away with a solid victory over the Cedar Rapids Kernels at the first minor league game ever played at the iconic diamond.
The Bandits, who were playing as the Davenport Blue Sox, held the Kernels, or the Bunnies, scoreless until the seventh inning, and by then, the Quad Cities were already well ahead.
The Bandits took the lead early with two runs in the bottom of the 1st inning with a two-run homer by designated Hitter Juan Carlos Nregret. They strengthened the lead in the third with another three runs, one of which came from a solo home run sent to the cornfield by center fielder Peyton Wilson.
In the sixth inning, the Bandits put two more runs up on the board to widen their lead to 7-0.
Starting pitcher Chandler Champlain held the Kernels scoreless in his time at the mound, switching part-way through the sixth to Rito Lugo for the close.
The Kernels put two runs on the board in the top of the seventh after the pitching change, but couldn't mount a further comeback as the defense sealed the game in the Bandits' favor in the eighth and ninth innings.
Champlain took home the win with 6.1 innings pitched, contrasted by the Kernel's six different pitchers throughout the game. Tyler Tolbert and Juan Carlos brought in two runs each, with the remaining three runs scored by Peyton Wilson, Herard Gonzalez and Cam Williams.
Bandits players told News 8 before the game that playing at the Field of Dreams was a dream come true, and that dream only got better as the team went on to become the first minor league team in history to win a game there.