Cougars falter late in 7-4 loss

BURLINGTON, Iowa — Despite falling behind early, the Kane County Cougars battled back to carry a lead into the eighth inning but couldn’t hold it in a 7-4 loss to the Burlington Bees on Sunday at Community Field.

Trailing 3-0 in the fifth inning, the Cougars (62-63, 28-27) picked up their first hit against starter A.J. Cole as Alex Llanos singled Michael Antonio into scoring position. Chris Elder singled to bring Antonio home.

In the sixth, the Cougars tied the game when Jack Lopez singled and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Dean Espy. Espy scored on an Antonio double to tie it at 3-3.

Kane County kept the pressure on the Bees in the top of the seventh by taking the lead for the first time.

Llanos started the inning with a single against Seth Frankoff (5-7) and scored on a single by Elder. Jason Mitchell (4-6) came in to protect the lead in the eighth, but he allowed 4 runs.

Sean Jamieson walked to start the inning, and Max Muncy singled. A groundout advanced both runners before Wade Kirkland was intentionally walked.

Bobby Crocker then hit a double to score the tying and go-ahead runs. Burlington added 2 more runs before David Macias worked the ninth for his sixth save.