Cougars fall 6-1 at Clinton

CLINTON, Iowa — A 4-spot off starter Angel Baez in the bottom of the first put the Clinton LumberKings on top, and they never looked back in a 6-1 victory over the Kane County Cougars on Friday night at Ashford University Field.

Clinton (25-45, 1-0) grabbed the advantage in the home half of the first after the Cougars (34-37, 0-1) picked up a run in the top half.

Justin Trapp reached on an error by shortstop Anthony Phillips to begin the contest. Trapp advanced to third on a double by Danny Mateo and scored on a grounder to short off the bat of Jorge Bonifacio.

Jamal Austin led off the bottom of the first with a double off Baez (1-2). Austin scored on a single to right from Steve Baron to tie the game at 1-1.

Baron wasn’t on the bases long as Ramon Morla blasted a 2-run homer to left, giving the LumberKings a 3-1 cushion. An error by Jack Lopez allowed Guillermo Pimentel to score the fourth run of the inning.

Clinton added another in the third as Dan Paolini doubled and scored on the front end of a double steal. Robinson Yambati replaced Baez after four innings and worked 4 innings of his own while giving up a run on 3 hits.

Trevor Miller (4-5) was solid for the LumberKings as he tossed 7 innings while limiting the Cougars to 2 hits. Josh Corrales allowed a pair of singles in the eighth while Steven Shackleford worked a perfect ninth.