Cougars get shutout win

Aaron Brooks tossed 7 scoreless innings while striking out six Wednesday night as the Kane County Cougars defeated the South Bend Silver Hawks 3-0 at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.

Brooks (6-9) limited the Silver Hawks to just 4 hits without walking a batter. South Bend only put one runner in scoring position. All 4 hits were singles.

Kane County (45-44, 11-8) took the lead in the first inning as Justin Trapp singled and stole second before reaching third on a groundout.

With two outs, Jorge Bonifacio grounded to third, but Court’s toss to first bounced to Matt Helm. He was unable to pluck it out of the dirt which allowed Trapp to score the first run.

In the fifth, Dean Espy singled against Andrew Barbosa (0-1) before stealing second and advancing to third on a wild pitch.

Tim Ferguson bounced a ball to second that Eric Groff briefly bobbled, giving Ferguson enough time to beat his throw home.

The Cougars picked up another run in the sixth on back-to-back doubles from Danny Mateo and Bonifacio.

Malcom Culver and Robinson Yambati (second save) got the final six outs.