Cougars avoid 3-game sweep with 5-3 win over Hot Rods

Solid pitching and consistent offense helped the Kane County Cougars (27-28) avoid a three-game sweep from the Bowling Green Hot Rods (30-25) Friday night as they salvaged a 5-3 victory in the finale at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.

For the first time in four games, the Cougars struck first in the contest scoring an unearned run in the opening frame. Two innings later, the Cougars doubled their lead thanks to Marty Herum's two-out RBI triple.

Markus Solbach (5-2) left the ballgame in the seventh, but tossed his sixth quality outing of the season as the recently named All-Star was only charged with 3 runs in the fourth inning. Casey Gillaspie launched his second home run of the series and the Hot Rods piled on 2 more runs with a Hunter Lockwood double.

Bowling Green's lead was short lived as the Cougars evened things up in the bottom of the fourth on a clutch at-bat from Victor Reyes. With runners at first and second with two outs, Reyes battled for a nine-pitch plate appearance before smacking a game-tying single into left field.

Stryker Trahan put the Cougars back in front with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning off Hunter Wood (0-2).

The Cougars grabbed an insurance run on Cody Regis' RBI sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, but didn't need it as Steve Hathaway tossed one and two-third innings of perfect relief. Zac Curtis (11) notched another save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

The Cougars continue their homestand by welcoming in the Dayton Dragons on Saturday. Wei-Cheih Huang (2-0, 0.71) will begin the series against Dayton's right-hander Tejay Antone (3-4, 2.18). The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.