Rally falls short as Cougars stay winless

The Kane County Cougars rallied in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little too late as the Cedar Rapids Kernels (3-0) hung on to a 5-3 victory and a sweep of the three-game, season-opening series at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark in Geneva on Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars (0-3) trailed by 4 runs when Fernery Ozuna doubled to lead off the bottom of the ninth. After two consecutive outs from Scott Kalamar and pinch-hitting Stryker Trahan, Cody Regis and Chuck Taylor reached on errors and Ozuna scored. Sergio Alcantara delivered an RBI single that cut the deficit to 5-3. But Marty Herum, who homered in the first inning, struck out against Kernels reliever Trevor Hildenberger to end the game.

Cougars starting right-hander Jeferson Mejia (0-1) struggled, allowing 5 runs in the first 4 innings.

Left-hander Stephen Gonsalves (1-0) pitched a quality start of 6 innings for the Kernels (3-0), allowing 1 run on 5 hits with 9 strikeouts and no walks.

The Cougars begin their road schedule today when they travel to Burlington to take on the Bees at 2 p.m.. Marcus Solbach makes his Cougars debut against Burlington's Austin Robichaux.