In a much-anticipated head-to-head matchup of last year’s first and second picks in the Major League First Year Player Draft, the No. 2 pick, Kernels center fielder Byron Buxton, may have claimed the first round with a five-hit game on Wednesday night.

But No.1 pick Carlos Correa struck back on Thursday, leading his Quad Cities River Bandts to a 9-5 win over the Kernels in front of 2,364 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Correa ended the night with three hits, including a first-inning solo home run off of Kernels starting pitcher Jose Berrios that staked his team to a 1-0 lead. Correa added a single in the second inning and a double in the fourth inning, finishing just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.

Buxton was hitless in four at-bats, with a sacrifice fly.

Hall of Fame Major Leaguer Paul Molitor is in town in his capacity with the Twins as their Minor League Coordinator of Baserunning and Infield Play and the Kernels’ infield play on Thursday night showed Molitor may have his work cut out for him this week.

The Kernels committed four errors in the game, with second baseman Candido Pimentel accounting for three of those errors over the course of just the third and fourth innings.

Much of the damage had already been done by the Bandits before the errors mounted, however.

Berrios gave up three hits and a pair of walks in the second inning, allowing Quad Cities to add four more runs to make its lead 5-0.

Kernels first baseman Dalton Hicks struck back in the home half of the second inning with his eighth home run of the season, a solo shot to left field off of the Bandits’ starting pitcher Vincent Velasquez. Hicks continued his hot hitting in the eighth inning with another leadoff home run, this time off the scoreboard in right-center field. Hicks extended his team season-high hitting steak to 11 games. He’s hit four home runs over that stretch.

Left fielder JD Williams had three hits on the night for the Kernels including his 10th double. He also walked once and had a pair of RBIs.

Berrios failed to survive the fourth inning as Quad Cities scored four more times to take a 9-1 lead. Josue Montanez relieved Berrios to record the final two outs of the inning. Tyler Jones finished the game for the Kernels with three hitless innings.

Kernels Manager Jake Mauer was not happy with his team's lack of support for their starting pitcher.

“(Berrios) made some pitches to get out of innings, but we just didn’t help him," Mauer said. "That’s what it kind of boils down to. You score five runs and get 10 hits, then just don’t catch the ball. It just kind of defeats the whole purpose.

“He didn’t throw strike one like he normally does. He got a strikeut and to be honest, I think he tried to strike everybody out after we kicked the ball behind him a little bit. He kind of thought he had to do it himself.”

Kernels outfielder Adam Brett Walker sat out the game after running in to the fence late in Wednesday’s game. Mauer indicated Walker had some swelling in his wrist but hoped he won’t need to miss significant time.

QUAD CITIES (9): Sosa, cf, 3 2 0 1, Correa, ss, 4 2 3 5, Hamblin, dh, 5 0 0 0, Wierzbicki, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Ruiz, 3b, 4 1 0 0, Elkins, 2b, 5 1 1 0, Ovando, rf, 2 1 1 0, Joyce, ph-rf, 2 0 0 0, Morales, c, 3 1 1 0, Scott, lf, 3 1 0 1, Velasquez, p, 0 0 0 0, Cotton, p, 0 0 0 0, Sanchez, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 34 9 6 7.

KERNELS (5): Buxxton, cf, 4 0 0 1, Williams, lf, 4 0 3 2, Polanco, ss, 4 0 0 0, Hicks, 1b, 5 2 2 2, Harrison, 3b, 4 0 1 0, Grimes, dh, 3 0 0 0, Pimentel, 2b, 3 1 1 0, Arias, c, 3 1 2 0, Pineda, rf, 4 1 1 0, Berrios, p, 0 0 0 0, Montanez, p, 0 0 0 0, Jones, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 34 5 10 5.

Quad Cities  140 400 000 - 9  6 1
Kernels         010 000 211 - 5 10 4

Velasquez, Cotton (5), Sanchez (9) and Morales. Berrios, Montanez (4), Jones (7) and Arias. W - Cotton (1-2). L - Berrios (4-3). 2B - Correa (11), Harrison (16), Williams (10). 3B - Pineda (1). HR - Correa (4), Hicks 2 (9). SB - Ovando (3), Sosa (2). S - Polanco. SF - Buxton. E - Correa (8), Pimentel 3 (11), Montanez (1). T - 3:02. A - 2,364.