Cougars score late, walk-off

Breaking different ties in the three final innings, the Kane County Cougars (25-8, 61-40) walked off against the Burlington Bees (12-21, 47-55) for a 5-4 final at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark Wednesday evening.

The third and final tie-breaking run came in the bottom of the ninth inning. Facing Eduardo Paredes (0-2) with the bases loaded and nobody out, Munoz sent a fly ball to right center field that allowed Henry Castillo to score the winning run. It was Munoz's second RBI of the day after a 2-for-3 effort and a great play at third base. Down 2-1 through six innings, the Cougars finally faced a Burlington right-hander other than Keynan Middleton. Jordan Piche took the mound in the seventh and gave up back-to-back hits to Marty Herum and Castillo.

After a couple of fielders' choices, Munoz and Victor Reyes each added two-out singles to tie and take a 3-2 Cougars' lead. Burlington tied up the game twice late in the contest. After a Zach Houchins RBI single in the eighth, Cody Regis came home thanks to a Burlington error and two wild pitches.

The Cougars only used two pitchers Wednesday night, seeing five innings from Ethan Elias and four frames from Wei-Chieh Huang (6-1). After Huang's eighth inning of one run allowed, Burlington tied the contest again in the ninth. Trevor Gretzky's one-out walk put the potential tying run on the bases before Ayendy Perez moved him to second.

David Fletcher then bounced a ball on the left side of the infield that still allowed Gretzky to score and tied up the game before the walk-off. The Cougars first run came across on an Ildemaro Vargas sacrifice fly in the third inning.

The Cougars and Bees conclude the season series on Thursday at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark. Markus Solbach (9-3, 2.77) will take the mound against Burlington's Justin Anderson (6-8, 3.55). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.