Prospects power Cougars to win

Led by Alek Thomas' five-hit night, five of the Arizona Diamondbacks top 30 prospects powered the Kane County Cougars (44-37, 9-3) to an 11-3 dismantling of the Peoria Chiefs (33-48, 3-9) on Tuesday night at Dozer Park. Thomas (Dbacks #7 prospect), Blaze Alexander (#9), Geraldo Perdomo (#6), Buddy Kennedy (#18) and Eduardo Diaz (#23) all had multiple hits to lead to Cougar offense.

The Cougars scored in seven of the nine innings they went to the plate. In the top of the first, Jose Herrera unloaded a three-run homer to make it 3-0 Cougars. In the second, Thomas made it 4-0 with an RBI double. Buddy Kennedy launched his fifth homer of the year in the third to make it 5-0. Thomas' third hit of the night, an RBI single, put the Cougars in front 6-0 in the fourth.

Peoria found the scoreboard for the first time in the bottom of the fourth. Brady Whalen drove in two runs with a single. After Whalen's hit made it a 6-2 game, the Cougars scored five more unanswered runs. Jose Herrera had a pair of sacrifice flys. Alexander and Perdomo both collected RBI singles in the eighth.

Alexis Wilson's solo homer in the bottom of the ninth complete the night's scoring.

drian Del Moral (1-0) earned the win in his Midwest League debut. He tossed five innings and allowed two unearned runs. Blake Workman (8) earned the save with four innings of one-run ball. Michael Brettell (2-6) suffered the loss, allowing eight runs on 13 hits over 5.2 innings.

The Cougars and Chiefs conclude the two-game series on Wednesday night at 6:35 p.m. RHP Jackson Goddard (4-2, 2.40) takes the ball for the Cougars against Chiefs RHP Franyel Casadilla (3-2, 4.79).