Cougars power past Dayton

DAYTON, Ohio — Two home runs from Jorge Bonifacio backed a stellar effort by Aaron Brooks as the Kane County Cougars defeated the Dayton Dragons with a 6-2 victory on Sunday afternoon at Fifth Third Field.

Justin Trapp started the ballgame with a double for the Cougars (50-49, 16-13) and scored on a basehit off the bat of Danny Mateo.

Jack Lopez walked and took third on Mateo’s single. Both scored when Bonifacio launched a 3-run homer off starter Dan Jensen (4-9). Jensen surrendered 4 runs before the first out was recorded.

Aaron Brooks (8-9) coughed up 3 hits in the first two innings, including a triple to Kyle Waldrop, leading off the second. Waldrop scored on a sacrifice fly to center from Sean Buckley to put the Dragons (40-59, 10-19) on the board.

Brooks was unhittable from there as he retired 16 consecutive batters until Dayton began the eighth with 3 straight singles to chase Brooks.

Jason Mitchell (third save) replaced Brooks and helped him out of the bases-loaded jam, minimizing the damage with just 1 run allowed.

Bonifacio cracked his second home run of the game against Jensen with a solo blast in the fifth. Mateo capped the scoring with his third home run in the last two games, a solo shot in the ninth.