Slugging Cougars win third straight

The Kane County Cougars scored 10-plus runs for a third straight game in an 11-2 victory over the Peoria Chiefs at Dozer Park on Tuesday afternoon.

The Cougars scored in their first at-bat. With two outs, Yoel Yanqui singled then Ernie De La Trinidad walked. The next batter, Ryan Grotjohn, bashed his first homer of the year, a three-run shot, to make it 3-0 Cougars. In the third, Grotjohn doublde with one away and scored on Tim Sunara's RBI double. Yoel Yanqui's single in the fourth inning scored Jazz Chisholm from first via an error by Scott Hurst, the Chiefs' right fielder. In the fifth, Susnara doubled home Grotjohn again. Luis Lara followed with an RBI single to make it 7-0.

The Chiefs got on the board for the first time in the series in the sixth inning. Elehuris Montero took Jayson McKinley deep for a two-run homer to account for Peoria's lone runs.

In the seventh, Ernie De La Trinidad hit his second homer in as many days, this one a solo home, padding the lead to 8-2. In the eighth, the Cougars provided an exclamation point with three more tallies. De La Trinidad had an RBI single and Luis Lara drove in a pair.

Jayson McKinley (2-2) earned the win for the Cougars and his first quality start of the year, hurling six innings of two-run ball, scattering six hits. Breckin Williams flung two perfect innings of relief. Juan Torres held the Chiefs off the board in the ninth.

In his Midwest League debut, Franyel Casadilla (0-1), suffered the loss. In five innings, the right hander gave up seven runs (six earned) on 12 hits. Zach Prendergast tossed 2.2 innings, yielding four runs. Patrick Dayton did not allow a run in 1.1 innings.