Floods forces bandits to move three games to Iowa City | Midwest League Baseball

The artificial diamond surface of Iowa City will be the home of the River Bandits at 6:35 pm. matches between Astros and Blue Jays affiliates on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

"We are going to open the community doors for free for all three games," said Jacqueline Holm, Executive Director of River Bandits. "There will be no fee billed as a way to thank the University of Iowa for hosting us."

The last time Iowa had hosted the River Bandits on April 30, 2008, a flood had forced a series to leave Davenport. Coincidentally, Lansing was also the adversary on this occasion.

Banks Field will be the sixth stadium that the Quad-Cities have called home this year in the one-month season, including the three games that the River Bandits have actually played at home last weekend.

Quad-Cities has also transferred nine home games to Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton and Peoria this season due to flood problems in Davenport.

Holm said that only Peoria's facility was made available to Quad-Cities next week "due to other obligations" in other areas.

After consulting with officials from Astros, the Blue Jays and the Midwest League, it was decided to transfer the upcoming series to Iowa's premises.

Although the floods had a negative impact on the modern Woodmen Park, access to the stadium was halted when the flood waters reached 21 feet earlier this week, covering a temporary footbridge located at the waterfront. exterior of the park and designed to match the height of the newly elevated railway adjacent to the stadium.

This forced the front office staff of the River Bandits to re-set up in a YMCA conference room in downtown Davenport.

"We have organized a group outing (Thursday) afternoon and have participated in some relief operations after the floods elsewhere in the city center, but we will be back to the Y (Friday) morning," said Holm.

The Lansing series is the first part of what was supposed to be a six-game family match for the River Bandits, which will host the Dodgers affiliated Great Lakes in Davenport next Thursday.

"If the river pulls out enough so we can get to Baseball Stadium on River Drive and on the asphalt ramp, we'd like to host this series," said Holm. "We will evaluate the situation Monday with the city of Davenport and make a decision on the Great Lakes series at that time."

The games on Tuesday and Wednesday of the next week were originally meant to be day games for students from area schools participating in the River Bandits Reading Program.

These outings will be postponed to a later date.

Fans who hold tickets for matches against Lansing can use them at Iowa City or redeem them for use during the remaining 2019 home games once the team has returned to Modern Woodmen Park.