Cougars’ Brooks notches distance win

Aaron Brooks went the distance as the Kane County Cougars cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits on Sunday evening at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark in Geneva.

Brooks (9-9) scattered 8 hits with 2 strikeouts and no walks against the River Bandits (51-53, 16-19) while allowing 1 unearned run. That came in the top of the first when Matt Williams led off with a double, advanced to third on an error and scored on a one-out sacrifice fly by David Bergin.

Brooks settled in nicely from there and retired 10 consecutive batters at one point and 12 straight later in the contest. Brooks was given the lead in the bottom of the second. Michael Antonio and Alex Llanos began the inning with back-to-back singles against Willy Paulino (2-9). Henry Moreno walked to load the bases before Kenny Swab’s groundout to short scored Antonio, tying the game at 1-1.

Tim Ferguson of the Cougars (52-53, 18-17) blasted a 2-run triple over Nick Martini’s head in center which drove home Llanos and Moreno. Ferguson also scored on the play thanks to a throwing error.

Ferguson also capped the scoring in the fifth when he belted his fifth homer of the season.