Blackburn pitches Cougars to victory

The Kane County Cougars are certainly enjoying home cooking this season.

The Cougars improved to 19-5 at home and 31-16 overall as Paul Blackburn tossed his fourth quality start of the season to spark a 6-1 victory over the Clinton LumberKings (24-21) in Midwest League action at Fifth Third Ballpark in Geneva on Thursday night.

The first-place Cougars snapped a scoreless tie with 2 runs on 3 straight hits in the fourth inning. Ben Carhart had an RBI single and Carlos Penalver scored on the double play. Penalver later had an RBI single.

Blackburn (5-1) tossed 7 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits with 6 strikeouts.