Cougars split doubleheader
BELOIT, Wis. — After a rainout Monday night, the Kane County Cougars rallied to beat the Beloit Snappers in Game 1 of a doubleheader Tuesday at Pohlman Field with a 4-3 victory before dropping the second contest 8-3.
Beloit (5-7) grabbed the early advantage in the opener by picking up 3 unearned runs in the first inning against right-hander Jose Arias. Brett Vertigan started the inning by reaching on an error, and he also scored on an error by first baseman Dan Vogelbach. Renato Nunez and John Wooten added RBI singles to finish the rally.
Beloit maintained a 3-0 cushion behind starter Raul Alcantara until the sixth inning when the Cougars (4-7) began to draw closer. Jeimer Candelario doubled home Gioskar Amaya to put the visitors on the board. Marco Hernandez knocked a two-bagger to score Vogelbach, pulling the Cougars within 1.
In the seventh, the Cougars finished the comeback attempt as Vogelbach evened the score at 3-3 with a run-scoring single off Tyler Vail (0-2). Oliver Zapata scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Candelario.
Jeff Antigua (1-1) finished the job for the Cougars with 3 scoreless relief innings.
In the nightcap, the Cougars took the lead first as Hernandez doubled in the second before stealing third and scoring on a throwing error by catcher Bruce Maxwell. That was the only lead the Cougars would enjoy as Michael Heesch (0-1) surrendered runs in the second.
An error by Hernandez made 5 of the 7 runs unearned. Wooten and Nunez each cracked 2-run doubles. Ryan Matthews hit a home run in the third as the Snappers got a solid effort in relief from Dakota Bacus (1-0) to ride the rest of the way to a doubleheader split.
The Cougars and Snappers will play the rubber game of their three-game set Wednesday night at 6:30 from Pohlman Field. Right-hander Lendy Castillo (0-0) takes the hill for the Cougars against fellow righty Vince Voiro (0-1).
The Cougars return to Fifth Third Bank Ballpark on Thursday against the Quad Cities River Bandits at 6:30 p.m.