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If There's Baseball, It Must Be Spring

WVIK News

It may not feel like it but spring must be coming soon. That's because the Quad City River Bandits have arrived at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport to prepare for the new Midwest League season. 

One of them is first baseman Jake Adams who played for the University of Iowa last year and led all Division One players with 29 homes runs. It wasn't until after he was drafted by the Houston Astros that he found out he'd be playing close to Iowa City.

"When I found out that Davenport had a team in the Houston organization, I was real excited to get down here. Iowa fans are going to back me up. I've already had numerous text messages from Iowa fans saying they can't wait for the season to start. I'm pretty excited to those guys again - it's kind of a second home to me here."

Adams says the pitching may be better at the Class-A level of professional baseball, but otherwise it shouldn't be too much different from the Big Ten.

Credit WVIK News
members of the River Bandits killing time during Media Day.

"Everybody's a close-knit group here and that was kind of what we had in college too. It's been kind of fun playing with some of these Latin guys and seeing how they play the game. We're kind of helping each out - them speaking English and them teaching us Spanish."

And this Adams' dream - to play professional baseball.

The Midwest League opens its new season on Thursday night, and for their first game the River Bandits will host Cedar Rapids.

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.