Dayton, Ohio – Royals’ first-rounder Zion Rose’s first professional homer helped lift the Quad Cities River Bandits (62-52, 32-19) to a series-securing 8-5 victory over the Dayton Dragons (60-57, 21-30) at Day Air Ballpark.
The series win marked the River Bandits’ fourth in-a-row and Quad Cities’ 11th of the season overall.
Rose was not the only 2026 first-round pick to leave the yard Saturday, as Justin Lebron tagged Bandits starter Kendry Chourio for a solo shot and a 1-0 Dayton lead in the third.
One inning later, Rose took Dayton starter JP Oritz off the right-field foul pole to tie the game. The Chicago native hit six round-trippers in his final season at Louisville before Kansas City drafted him with this summer’s sixth-overall pick.
Rose’s homer kicked off a string of four-straight innings that saw Quad Cities score. After Nolan Sailors gave the Bandits their first lead of the game with an RBI-single, Rose drove in another run with a sacrifice-fly. Blake Mitchell capped off a three-run Quad Cities’ fifth with an RBI on a safety squeeze.
Austin Charles struck for the Bandits’ second homer of the night off Brady Afthim in the sixth, the infielder’s fourth of the season and his first since returning from the injured list.
While Quad Cities’ bats tacked on, Rob Hensey followed Chourio’s 3.0-inning start with 3.0-scoreless frames in relief, including a pair of strikeouts.
Before Dash Albus took over for the southpaw, Jose Cerice extended the Bandits’ advantage to 6-1 in the top of the seventh with an RBI-groundout.
With help from three strikeouts, Albus kept Dayton out of the run column as well and carried the game to the top of the ninth, where Hyunchan Um sent the first pitch Jordan Little threw over the left-field wall for his first High-A homer.
Cerice extended his on-base streak to 39 games and Quad Cities’ lead to 8-1 with an RBI-single four batters later.
A pair of two-run homers from Jack Lausch and Eric Becker cut the Bandits’ lead to three in the bottom of the ninth, but LP Langevin was able to finish off a full inning of relief and end the game.
Hensey (3-0) earned the win for Quad Cities, while Ortiz (5-2) was saddled with the loss for Dayton, surrendering four runs over 4.0 innings.
The River Bandits return to Day Air Ballpark for their series finale with the Dragons Sunday and send reigning Midwest League Pitcher of the Week David Shields (9-5, 3.98) to the mound for a 1:05 p.m. first pitch.