Fort Wayne tops Cougars in extra innings, 7-6

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - In a battle between two first-place teams, the Kane County Cougars were beaten 7-6 Wednesday afternoon by the Fort Wayne TinCaps in front of 7,161 at Parkview Field.

The Cougars built a 4-0 lead, fell behind 6-4, tied the game in the ninth at 6-6 and then surrendered the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

Steve Kleen belted a second-inning homer, Matt Ray singled home a run in the third, and Franklin Hernandez cracked a two-run homer in the fourth to give the Cougars their 4-0 lead.

That advantage evaporated in the bottom of the fourth. Starter Brett Hunter had gotten out of a jam in each of his first three innings, but ran into trouble with the bases loaded. He made an error on a comebacker and issued a walk to make it 4-2. Then Ben Hornbeck relieved him and served up a grand slam for a 6-4 Fort Wayne lead.

Hunter allowed 5 runs - one earned - on 3 hits over 31/3 innings with 7 walks and 4 strikeouts. Hornbeck gave up one unearned run over 41/3 innings.

The Cougars tied the game in the top of the ninth against TinCaps closer Brad Brach (2-0), who was 8-for-8 in saves entering the contest. Ray singled home Dusty Napoleon, and Jason Christian drove in Ray for a 6-6 score.

Mike Hart (0-1) yielded the game-deciding tally in the bottom of the ninth for the 7-6 finish.

The Cougars (17-9) and TinCaps (19-7) play the last match of their three-game series Thursday night at 6:05 p.m. Kane County's Anthony Capra (0-0, 2.14) will face Mat Latos (1-0, 0.00).