Cougars trounce River Bandits, end 3-game skid

On Military Appreciation Night, with Governor Bruce Rauner in attendance, the Kane County Cougars (3-7, 36-44) ended a three-game slide with a convincing 7-1 victory over the visiting Quad Cities River Bandits (5-5, 36-43).

From the first crack of the bat, the Cougars offense was in full force. The Cougars scored 3 runs in the first inning and never looked back behind another gritty effort from the pitching staff. With the win, the Cougars are now 3-3 on the home stand setting up a rubber match with the River Bandits on Sunday.

Offense was plentiful for the Cougars who scalded Quad Cities starter, right-hander Franklin Perez (1-2), for 3 runs in the opening frame. The Cougars bashed 5 hits in the monster inning with RBI from Grant Heyman, Joe Munoz, and Frank Christy.

Those three runs secured the game for the Cougars behind an immaculate start from Justin Donatella (7-4). Donatella did not give up a hit until there were 2 outs in the fourth inning, a single to Osvaldo Duarte. Only once did the River Bandits touch up Donatella for a run in the sixth inning. Reaching on a weak infield grounder, Bobby Wernes scored with 2 outs on a Duarte base hit, but the Cougars still led 3-1.

In the sixth stanza, the Cougars plated three more runs. Helping the effort were two River Bandits throwing errors as Trevor Mitsui, Austin Byler, and Munoz all singled and scored. And in the eighth, Mitsui put the finishing touches on the win with a sacrifice fly and his team-leading 44th RBI of the campaign.

Donatella left in the seventh inning with a start of 6⅔ innings on just 4 hits and one run surrendered. He now has back-to-back wins at home. To finish the ballgame, Keegan Long recorded 2⅓ scoreless innings coming off a month of June in which he did not allow a run. Long was recently named the Cougars' "Pitcher of the Month" for June by the Diamondbacks.

Donatella picked up his team leading seventh victory as Perez suffered the defeat. Sunday's rubber-match is slated for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.