Cougars defeat league's best River Bandits
Down by four runs at one point, the Kane County Cougars (22-4, 58-36) came back to defeat the Midwest League's best Quad Cities River Bandits (15-11, 60-34) by a score of 9-5 from Fifth Third Bank Ballpark Tuesday evening.
The game featured three lead changes, as the Cougars grabbed a 1-0 in the first inning before Quad Cities batted around in the second.
Down 5-1 into the fifth, the Cougars put together a big inning of their own as they scored five runs in the frame off of River Bandit starter Joshua James (2-2). Chuck Taylor's two-run single brought home Joe Munoz and Victor Reyes to get the Cougars back on the board and within two. After Ildemaro Vargas singled to put two runners aboard, the Cougars scored three more runs without putting the ball passed the infield. Marty Herum's ground ball would have been just an RBI fielder's choice, but a bad throw from shortstop Alex Bregman scored Vargas as well to tie the game 5-5. James left the game after Colin Bray put down an infield bunt single. Michael Perez then reached on an RBI fielder's choice against River Bandit reliever Brock Dykxhoorn to give the Cougars their second lead of the day.
The Cougars offense plated three more runs off of Dykxhoorn with run scoring single from Cody Regis and Bray.
Five different Cougar pitchers were used on Tuesday, as Nick Baker (7-1) picked up the win with three and one-third innings on one run baseball. After the River Bandit offense knocked starter Chris Oliver out of the game, Baker came in and stopped the bleeding.
Quad Cities threatened later in the game as Joe Martinez loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh. Jency Solis came into the contest and received help from his defense immediately. Ryan Bottger slammed a line drive to a diving Cody Regis that kept all runners at the bases. Trent Woodward followed with a sharp grounder to first that turned into a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning.
Cody Geyer tossed the final two innings without giving up a run to seal the Cougar win.
The Cougars and River Bandits continue this series on Wednesday. Brad Keller (5-8, 2.55) will take the mound for the Cougars against Quad Cities' Justin Ferrell (2-2, 2.79). First pitch from Fifth Third Bank Ballpark is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.