Cougars rally, win 4-3
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Justin Trapp homered and tripled to help the Kane County Cougars hang on for a 4-3 victory over the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Trapp cracked a solo blast in the top of the fourth against Cedar Rapids starter Frank De Jiulio to put the Cougars (59-59, 25-23) on top 1-0.
De Jiuilio had retired the first nine batters before Trapp’s ninth home run of the season.
Cedar Rapids grabbed the lead right back in the bottom of the fourth against Bryan Brickhouse (3-3). Andy Workman doubled with one out and scored on a groundout to first off the bat of Zach Borenstein. Gary Mitchell then reached on an error by Justin Trapp, allowing Frazier Hall to score.
Mitchell came home on a single from Abel Baker to give the Kernels a 2-run cushion. Brickhouse wasn’t touched again as he lasted 7 innings while yielding only 3 hits.
Michael Johnson (4-6) took over for De Jiulio in the sixth and allowed the Cougars to quickly come back. Trapp smacked a triple over the head of Drew Martinez in right before scoring on a Jack Lopez single.
Lopez scored the tying run on a Dean Espy single, and an Alex Llanos sacrifice fly scored Espy to give the Cougars the lead.
Andrew Triggs (first save) made the lead hold up as he recorded the final six outs.