Cougars blast 3 homers, 15 hits in rout

For the second straight game, the Kane County Cougars' offense was unstoppable.

The Cougars blasted 3 home runs and pounded out 15 hits Sunday afternoon in a 13-7 rout of the host Burlington Bees in Midwest League action at Community Field.

Mike Gilmartin homered and drove in 5 runs, Mitch LeVier homered and drove in 4 - and each player missed the cycle by a hit.

The Cougars have won eight of their last 11 games.

They are 10-1 against the Bees this season and have outscored them 81-36 for the year and 23-10 in the series.

Jackhammers 10, Flyers 4: The Joliet Jackhammers' offense finally showed up in the final game of the series as they defeated visiting Schaumburg in a Northern League contest at Silver Cross Field.

The Flyers' bats woke up in the seventh when Richard Mercado doubled to deep center and Chris Schultz brought Mercado in with a single. Tommy Fitzgerald and Ruddy Yan both singled, scoring Schultz to cut the lead to 10-3.

RailCats 11, Fielders 1: The Lake County Fielders struggled through another tough loss to the visiting Gary SouthShore RailCats, dropping the final game of the four-game series in Zion.

The Fielders' only run came in the sixth inning when they took advantage of 3 Gary miscues. Guillermo Martinez reached second on an error, then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error.

Bandits 7, Racers 5: The host Akron Racers and Chicago Bandits battled back and forth all game, and in the end the Bandits prevailed 7-5 to spoil the Racers' regular-season home finale at Firestone Stadium on Sunday.

With the series victory, the Bandits built their lead atop the National Pro Fastpitch standings to 3½ games.

Nikki Nemitz (7-2), who earned her second consecutive win in relief this series, held the Racers scoreless while allowing just 3 hits, striking out a pair in 4 innings.

The Racers led 5-3 before the Bandits, who lead the league in home runs, put on a hitting clinic in the fifth as Angela Findlay crushed a solo shot to center.

Vicky Galindo singled prior to Emily Friedman's 2-run blast to left that gave the Bandits a 6-3 edge.