One would think I would have posted immediately about my one-day adventure in South Bend, but I had to figure what positives I could bring to what was a rather long slog of a game.

Spoiler alert, what started out to be a close game never really resembled a good game, but I still had a good time.

Once I realized I’d likely miss the rain in South Bend, I called their (helpful) ticket office and secured a $13 lower box seat down the 1b/rf line. The ticket folks have always done a nice job getting me seats that favored my photography. Nathan also made sure I wasn’t going to be staring at the sun all afternoon. There was a nice cloud cover so the sun didn’t matter, but it was a beautiful 74 degree afternoon.

After a somewhat stressful ride thought Chicago construction, I enjoyed a much needed breakfast at Nick’s Patio on the periphery of the Notre Dame campus. While not a diner, the 24/7 family restaurant offered me a glimpse into the world of townies.

Sundays are almost always big family days at minor league parks, but Sunday’s experience was almost overkill. I knew about the pregame catch on the field, autograph session on the concourse, the pickleball paddle giveaway, but was surprised by the “Jeep show” in one of the parking lots (30 nice jeeps) and the pregame reading club parade on the field. Amazingly, none of this was intrusive, rather it was good marketing/cross-promotion. One of the local colleges sponsored the pickleball paddles-there were close to 100 of those students in attendance.

I admit to paying a little closer attention to the prospects playing because it’s the Cubs minor league team. That being said, neither team (Quad City-Royals) were flush with better prospects. However, I was interested to see Rafael Morel and Ed Howard. Rafael is the 22-year-old brother of Cubs star, Christopher Morel and Howard was the Cubs first round pick in 2020.

Neither starting pitcher Shane Panzini (QC) and Tyler Schlaffer (Cubs) entered the game with good numbers and neither did anything to move the needle as each guy only lasted 4 innings and allowed one earned run.

Quad Cities got on the board first, scoring a run in the first when catcher and #10 prospect, Carter Jensen walked, stole second, and scored on a Brett Squires double. The Cubs evened things up in the third on a walk, wild pitch and a Jonathon Long single.

Carter Jensen beating the throw and almost tag by Rafael Morel.

For all the talk of the game speeding up, this game couldn’t have dragged more. Quad Cities pitchers allowed 7 walks on the day and the Cubs one-upped them by walking 11 hitters and most of the counts were 3-2. It seemed between every pitching change there were more than the allotted mound visits.

For the first four innings, neither team could come up with that big hit and it wasn’t because of stellar pitching or fielding. The River Bandits scored four runs, but it wasn’t the result of timely hitting. Jared Dickey led the inning off with a homer, but the following three runs came on bases-loaded walks. ZZzzzzzz.

Quad Cities tacked on three more in the 7th inning on a couple more walks, a stolen base, a wild pitch and a two-run single by Jack Pineda. South Bend did get one more in the bottom of the 8th on a Yohendrick Pinango solo blast. The Cubs did strike out 10 times and left 7 runners on base.

As for the aforementioned players of interest, second baseman, Howard, went 0-3 with a walk and made all the plays in the field. I think Morel’s performance was more disappointing because I figured and hoped that he had some of his brother’s magic. Instead, he hit into two double plays (one with bases loaded) and struck out-going 0-4 with a throwing error.

I don’t think most of the crowd was as bummed with the pace of the game or the final outcome and not because of their fandom. Rather, the families enjoyed themselves although the parents sitting in front of me said, they couldn’t bring their kids to Wrigley (yet) for a real game because the kids couldn’t sit still. Editor’s note: parents don’t have to walk with their kids everywhere. As long as they were withing sight, the parents could enjoy the experience from their seats.

Like all of the MWL parks, Four Winds has all of the picnic areas, group seating and party decks and suites. The only hazard is the water playground/fountain located in the right field concourse. It’s the only interruption in a perfect 360 walk around the park. I spent the last 3 innings sitting in the outfield on picnic tables and high tops. The guest service folks and First Aid lady are top notch. Unlike Lansing, the Cubs provide every fan with an official program (which includes a decent scorecard) gratis. The food and bevvy selections are among the best in the league. Since I enjoyed a substantial breakfast, I only ate some squeaky cheese curds.

While the game emcee was as obnoxious as one would expect, it seemed like they’ve cut back on between-innings entertainment, but nobody seemed to mind. The overabundance of bases on balls and failures to produce in the clutch didn’t appeal to my baseball sensibilities, I had a most enjoyable afternoon in South Bend.

Quad Cities 8-South Bend 2, 4,460 attendance-2:54 minutes.