Chiefs rally late to upend Cougars

PEORIA — The Chiefs did not score until the seventh inning, but their 5 runs in the final two frames were enough to pass a 3-run Kane County Cougars lead Saturday as the Cougars fell 5-3. After being swept by the Cougars (37-19) in Geneva earlier in the week, the Chiefs (30-25) came back to take Game 1 of a three-game series at Dozer Park.

The Cougars had a 3-0 lead after two innings with the final run coming courtesy of Carlos Penalver's first home run of the season.

Trailing 3-2, the Chiefs scored 3 runs in the eighth courtesy of Mason Katz.

The inning began with a walk to Vaughn Bryan. Juan Herrera came up to the plate and showed bunt, but it was a bluff and turned out to be a hit and run. Bryan made it all the way to third base on a chopper into left field and Herrera, with some heads up base running, made it to second on the throw to third. Corbin Hoffner got Ronald Castillo to ground out, but walked Steve Bean to load the bases. After a pop out from Kenny Peoples-Walls, Hoffner had a 2-2 count on Katz, but the Chiefs' first baseman sent a line drive over Jake Hannemann's head in center field for a bases clearing triple and a 5-3 lead for Peoria.

The Chiefs first got on the board in the seventh inning as Bean walked to lead off the frame and Peoples-Walls connected on his second home run of the year to cut the Cougars' lead 3-2. Juan Paniagua, who started the Cougars' game with six shutout innings, left after the long ball.

The Cougars' runs came in the first two frames as Michael Schulze's error allowed Hannemann to score from second base and Cael Brockmeyer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.