Cougars beat Quad Cities 4-3

On the backs of Monday's strong bullpen effort, the Kane County Cougars (18-19, 57-47) took out the visiting Quad Cities River Bandits (22-15, 59-46) by a 4-3 final. The go-ahead runs scored on a Manny Jefferson RBI hit in the fifth, followed up by a throwing error on a decisive play. The Cougars now have a chance for a winning home stand and season series advantage over the River Bandits.

In each game of this series, the Cougars have had to comeback from a deficit. Monday night's contest was no different as the Quad Cities went up 2-0 after the first against righty Emilio Vargas (5-4). Stringing together three hits, Josh Rojas punched in an RBI single with two outs in the first. And in the second, Troy Sieber bashed a solo home run to deep right field.

But as they have in each game this series, the Cougars came back to take the lead. In the second, the Cougars tied the game against southpaw Patrick Sandoval (1-1) on base hit RBI for Stepehn Smith and B.J. Lopez. All of the Cougars production in the frame came from the bottom half of the order.

Later, the Cougars took the lead in the fifth against losing reliever Devon Carr (0-2). With two on base, Manny Jefferson squeaked a base hit through the middle scoring Marcus Wilson. And on an errant throw past third from Daz Cameron in center, the Cougars scored another tally.

In addition to the timely offense, the Cougars benefited from fantastic pitching. Vargas lasted five and one third innings on just three earned runs allowed in the win. And out of the bullpen, righty Cal Becker (0-0) locked down two and two-thirds scoreless innings with five strikeouts for a hold.