Midwest League Action: Games of July 26, 2009

Complete scoreboard

@Peoria 12, Wisconsin 5: Peoria’s top three scoring innings this season have all come against Wisconsin. The Chiefs had nine runs in an inning at Wisconsin on June 28, and scored six in a frame on both Saturday and Sunday.

Dayton 9 @Kane County 4: Dragons version | Cougars version

Fort Wayne 11 @Burlington 4: There's a reason why the Fort Wayne TinCaps have won 69 games this season, 24 of the 29 they've played in the second half.

Lansing 3 @Beloit 1: Lugnuts version | Snappers version

West Michigan 4 @Clinton 2: Whitecaps version | LumberKings version

@Cedar Rapids 2, South Bend 1:

One agonizingly close check swing gave the Cedar Rapids Kernels the chance they needed to end a four-game losing streak and beat South Bend for the first time in five attempts.

That near swing, with one out, two strikes and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, gave Kernels center fielder Tyson Auer another opportunity to erase a 1-0 deficit.

@Quad Cities 5, Great Lakes 2: Talk about a sweet victory. Arquimedes Nieto enjoyed one before the Quad-Cities River Bandits' inaugural Mega Candy Drop added some sugar to a satisfying 5-2 win over Great Lakes.

Bonus...Bonus, I don't know what...

More than 800 children flooded the outfield at Modern Woodmen Park after the Bandits' third consecutive victory, scooping up candy and marshmallows thrown from a helicopter in a first-time experience at the Midwest League park.

Separated by ages, children chanted, "Candy, candy" as helicopter pilot Jay Brent of Rotor View Helicopters made the first of six swoops over the outfield, dropping a payload that included nearly 100 pounds of candy.

Once the candy had safely been dropped, the children ages 12 and under were allowed onto the playing surface where they scooped up whatever they could grab.

As that was happening - with tunes from the motion picture "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" playing over the public-address system - the helicopter made three more passes and showered the children with just under 100 pounds of marshmallows.

As God is my witness, I thought marshmallows could fly.

"They certainly seem to be having a good time," said beaming River Bandits owner Dave Heller, who came up with the idea for the promotion more than a year ago.

The outfield grass was probably having a blast, too.

"We just wanted to do something different, something nobody else had done before and something that kids would remember for a long, long time. I think we accomplished that."

Yep. That helicopter cash drop in Bull Durham was nothing like this.