Cougars shutout buy Poppen, Kernels

Shutout for the just the fourth time all season, the Kane County Cougars (26-21) fell 6-0 to the visiting, first place Cedar Rapids Kernels (28-21) on Saturday night from Northwestern Medicine Field. It was a spectacular seven-inning pitching performance from righty Sean Poppen (3-1) that led the way for the visitors tying the series.

In a frustrating day at the plate for the Cougars, it was a different story for a Cedar Rapids team that scored in multiple innings. That included the first frame when the Kernels struck for 3 hits and 2 runs. It began with a lead-off double from Ariel Montesino and an RBI base hit from Travis Blankenhorn. With two outs, first baseman Caleb Hamilton socked an RBI single as the Kernels paced the Cougars, 2-0, after one inning.

The struggles for Lemieux in his first home start as a Cougar continued when the third inning started with a throwing error at third. After a subsequent base hit to Jermaine Palacios, Blankenhorn came up with another RBI hit to push Cedar Rapids' lead to three runs.

As the Cougars failed to put back-to-back base runners on against Poppen, the Kernels extended their lead to five runs in the top of the fifth. This time Palacios and Blankenhorn came up with the RBI. In two games in this series, Blankenhorn has 4 hits and 4 RBI.

The Cougars sparse offense was due in large part to the tremendous start from Poppen. The Harvard graduate tossed seven innings on 3 hits and no runs with 6 strikeouts and just one free pass.

Adding insult to injury, the Kernels tacked on one more in the eighth against right-hander Jose Martinez (1-1). With the honors, Hank Morrison blasted a solo shot past the left field wall as the Kernels went up six.

The highlights of the night came from the Cougars bullpen. In relief, right-hander Sam Lewis (0-0) did not give up a run in 2⅓ innings pitched on no hits and three punch outs. Right-hander Wei-Chieh Huang (1-0) also recorded a scoreless inning of relief.