Cougars lose second straight to Peoria

A late-inning comeback refused to hold up for the Kane County Cougars (30-33, 69-61) as they dropped their second straight game to the Peoria Chiefs (33-30, 63-69) in a 7-6 extra inning loss from Dozer Park Sunday afternoon.

The Cougars used a four-run seventh inning to provide themselves a comfortable three-run run, but Peoria's offense scratched across four runs in the final four innings. Loading the bases on a Stephen Smith double and a couple of walks, Anfernee Grier's sacrifice fly tied the game at three. With two outs, Marcus Wilson continued the rally has he belted a go-ahead two-run double to deep left center field. Eudy Ramos followed up with an RBI single to cap off the four-run rally.

Peoria used a sacrifice fly in the seventh and a wild pitch in the eighth to get within one run into the ninth. Junior Garcia's ninth started with a Ramos error to put the tying run on the bases, before Stefan Trosclair's bunt was thrown wide to put two runners on. Danny Hudzina's RBI single scored Robertson to tie the game and stick Garcia with a blown save. Jake Winston (1-2) took over with two runners on and nobody out, but escaped the jam. Winston used a ground ball double play and a strikeout to Ryan McCarvel to bring the game into extras.

Peoria's scoring consistency kept up as they loaded the bases in the 10th on two walks and a hit by pitch. Trosclair then connected on a single down the left field line to complete the comeback victory.

Austin Sexton (4-2) earned the win after tossing a scoreless 10th.

Down 2-0 in the first inning, the Cougars found their first burst of offense as Yan Sanchez and Anfernee Grier teamed up for back-to-back home runs. It was the first back-to-back set of homers of the year for the Cougars.