Cougars split doubleheader with LumberKings

Winning a pitcher's fight in a short game one, the Kane County Cougars (32-36) fell in the second game in 11 innings of a twin bill against the Clinton LumberKings (38-30) from Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.

The Cougars played their first extra innings game since late April in game two while Alex Young (2-0) logged a complete-game shutout for the Cougars in a game one victory.

In a fine pitcher's duel between the Cougars' Young (2-0) and Clinton's Zack Littell (5-5), hits and runs were few and far between. Disrupting the rapidly played game, the Cougars struck first in the third inning. With the fleet-footed Fernery Ozuna on first, Zach Nehrir furthered his go-ahead RBI heroics with a double to left-center field.

Leading 1-0 the Cougars stayed behind the effort of Young to a victory. Young only allowed one hit to Braden Bishop in the fourth inning along with three free passes en route to a complete-game shutout.

It was the Cougars' first complete game of any kind from a starting hurler. Seven innings was also a career high for Young who struck out four batters to give the Cougars their second straight win at home.

Remaining undefeated in his career, Young notched in the win, as Zack Littell suffered the tough luck loss despite logging a quality start and the Cougars took a 2-0 lead in the five game series.

In game two, Sam McWilliams (0-0) made his Cougars debut getting past a rocky first inning for a solid performance. In the first inning, the LumberKings claimed a 2-0 advantage after a leadoff walk with an RBI from first baseman, Dalton Kelly.

After a huge come-from-behind win last night, the Cougars tied the game at two with runs in the second and third frames. In the second inning, the Cougars strung together three straight singles capped off by a Raymel Flores RBI. To tie the contest, in-game insertion Joe Munoz blasted his fourth home run of the season past the left-field foul pole.

But no more runs were scored in the regulatory seven innings forcing extras. In fact no runs were scored from the end of the third until the top of the 11th innings. Against Ryan Burr (1-2), The LumberKings put runners on the corners when Alex Jackson hit a swinging bunt to the third base side that hit the bag itself as the go-ahead run scored. Clinton tacked on two more runs to finish off an extra innings win.

Burr took the loss for the Cougars as right-hander Matt Walker (2-1) earned the victory for the LumberKings.