Kane County Cougars rally late for sixth straight

The Kane County Cougars (20-3, 56-35) stayed hot as they took the series opener 3-1 over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (7-15, 30-62) on Saturday.

After coughing up a 1-0 lead late into the game, the Cougars offense rallied in the bottom of the eighth for more runs than they scored in the previous seven frames.

Sthervin Matos' RBI single off of Jency Solis (4-1) in the top of the eighth tied up the game 1-1. After Solis stranded a runner at first, Ildemaro Vargas led off the bottom of the inning with a single and was moved to second on Cody Regis' sacrifice bunt. Marty Herum then bounced a base hit to left field to score Vargas as the Cougars retook the lead. Two batters later, Michael Perez drove in his second RBI of the game with an infield single for an insurance run.

Luis Ramirez gave up a 2-out single, but finished the game for his sixth save of the season.

The Cougars rode Perez's run-scoring single from the fourth for seven innings as Ethan Elias and Wei-Chieh Huang kept the Timber Rattlers scoreless through seven innings. Solis' run in the eighth cost him the save and denied Elias of the win.

Devin Williams was off the hook for the loss after a quality outing as Eric Hanhold (0-1) suffered the loss in his Wisconsin debut.