The Tarboro River Bandits have clinched a playoff spot in the Old North State League playoffs this season by winning the Northeastern Division in the first half.
That’s a good thing, because the Bandits have struggled the second half of the season.
However, Tarboro is hoping a division win on Sunday in Elizabeth City can fuel a late-season turnaround.
Going into Monday’s game at the Edenton Steamers, Tarboro stood in third place in the division (10-7) and were 23-9 overall with eight games remaining, five within the division.
The River Bandits are looking up at the New Bern Southpaws (10-6, 16-11) and Steamers (8-5, 20-7), who are within percentage points of each other (New Bern at .625; Edenton at .615).
In addition to Monday’s game at Edenton, Tarboro also has four other divisional contests remaining.
The River Bandits have three of them at home, where they own a 16-2 record: Thursday against Kinston, Friday against Edenton and Monday (July 22) against Edenton. They also have divisional games at Kinston on Wednesday and at New Bern on Sunday (July 21).
Tarboro has two non-divisional games within the friendly confines of Muncipal Stadium: Tuesday against the Fuquay-Varina Twins and Saturday (July 20) against the Clayton Clovers.
There is still time for the River Bandits to catch the Southpaws and Steamers. Tarboro was 1-2 against the Steamers prior to Monday’s game, having won 9-4 and lost 2-1 and 8-7 earlier this season, and the Bandits are 3-1 against the Southpaws (having won 6-1, 10-6 and 8-5 and losing 5-4).
Tarboro is also 3-1 against the Wingmen (lost 5-0 and won 9-3, 4-3 and 12-2).
The somewhat surprising part is the River Bandits are 3-3 against the River City Skippers (5-13, 8-15), the last-place team in the Northeastern Division. The Skippers have won 9-8, 7-6 and most recently, 14-0, the latter of which was at Municipal Stadium last week. The Bandits won a pair of 6-5 decisions and defeated the Skippers 9-0 in a key division game on Sunday at Knobb Creek Park in Elizabeth City to even the season series.
The Bandits went into Edenton on Monday on a positive note after shutting out River City and ending a recent three-game losing streak. They struck for two runs against the Skippers in the first inning and added four more in the fourth and three in the fifth to finish with eight hits and no errors defensively.
Collin Kerrigan picked up the win for Tarboro, as he pitched five innings and allowed just two hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Ben Sieracki added two frames and gave up just one hit while striking out one.
Cam Greenway (double, RBI), Daniel Stewart (RBI) and Ryan Yaroshuk (double, RBI) each had two hits for Tarboro. Ryan Fluharty (two RBI) and Regan Bernard (RBI) added the other hits.
Providing RBI for the River Bandits were Justin Tobin (two) and Jaxon Masterson (one).
In the field, Brady Holloway had 10 putouts for Tarboro while Fluharty added two. Assists were credited to Yaroshuk (four), Masterson (four), Tobin (two) and Kerrigan (one).
River City’s hits came from Josh Holland, Doyle Mcnew and Ryan Bibb. Jalen Greenidge suffered the mound loss as he worked 3.1 innings and surrendered three hits and three earned runs with one strikeout and four walks.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Going into Monday’s game, with a minimum of 23 games played, the River Bandits were being led offensively by Preston Shelton (.383, 36-for-94, 20 runs, 19 RBI, four doubles, two home runs, 12 stolen bases), Greenway (.380 batting average, 41-for-108, 32 runs, team-leading and divisional-leading 28 RBI, 11 doubles, two home runs and 17 stolen bases); Fluharty (.356, 31-for-87, 21 runs. 19 RBI, seven doubles, two homers, 13 stolen bases) and Yaroshuk (.337, 34-for-101, 24 runs, 19 RBI, seven doubles, three homers, nine stolen bases).
Mason Reising leads the division with nine home runs, while Shelton and Fluharty are tied for fourth with 19 RBI.
Brett Rogers is the top base-stealer with 19, while Greenway is a perfect 17-for-17. Tobin (15), Fluharty (13) and Jalil Everette (12) have also had solid seasons on the basepaths.
On the mound, Kerrigan is tied for second in the division with three victories, owns a 1.37 earned-run average and is third in strikeouts with 36 and has issued just 17 walks.
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