Cougars walk off in 17 over Snappers
In what turned out to be a daylong affair at Northwestern Medicine Field Wednesday, the Kane County Cougars (9-4) battled the Beloit Snappers (5-8) for 17 innings including a two-hour rain delay for a 1-0 victory.
After 16 frames of no runs from either team, Ramon Hernandez was plunked by a pitch with one out in the bottom of the 17th. Two batters later, Jason Morozowski battled with Beloit infielder Kyle Nowlin, who was on the mound. With a 2-2 count Morozowski lined a pitch into left field that Cole Gruber attempted to play on a hop. The ball bounced through Gruber's legs and rolled all the way to the warning track, allowing Hernandez to score the first, and winning run of the game.
The ballgame saw seven different Cougar pitchers, two of them coming from the infielders' list. Paxton De La Garza made his debut on the mound with two scoreless innings before Kyle Smith (1-0) kept the game scoreless in the 16th and 17th innings.
Starter Tyler Mark (0-0) went for an inning of two-thirds of shutout baseball for the Cougars on just one hit, and righty Mitchell Jordan completed a scoreless frame as the starter for Beloit. Then the rain began to fall.
After the rain delay, the Cougars received a tremendous bullpen effort from right-hander Jon Duplantier. Still without a victory, Duplantier came in relief of Mark, tossing five and one-third innings on no hits, six strikeouts, and one walk. Through 15 plus innings on the mound this season, Duplantier still has not allowed an earned run. Austin Mason, Jeferson Mejia and Sam Lewis each added two scoreless frames to continue the Cougars' shutout.
On the other side, the Snappers bullpen was equally potent. Left-hander Will Gilbert (2-0) impressed with three scoreless innings on just two hits surrendered.
Prior to the 17th, the Cougars' best chance to end the game came in the 15th when they loaded the bases with one out. Smith came up to the plate facing Gruber and sent a fly ball to center field that JaVon Shelby secured. Jose Herrera came racing home on the play, but was thrown out at the plate on Shelby's dart to catcher Collin Theroux.
The Cougars hit the road Thursday night for a 6:35 p.m. contest at Cedar Rapids. On the mound, right-hander Sam McWilliams (2-0, 0.00 ERA) opposes right-hander Tyler Wells (1-0, 1.80 ERA).