Walk-off walk wins it for Cougars

Thanks to three straight walks in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Kane County Cougars earned a 6-5 walk-off victory over the Lincoln Saltdogs on Wednesday night at Northwestern Medicine Field.

Trailing 5-4 entering the bottom of the ninth, Alexis Pantoja led off the inning for the Cougars (46-43) with a single off Lincoln (41-48) closer Steffon Moore (0-4). BJ Lopez then reached on a bunt single before Galli Cribbs Jr. laid down a sacrifice bunt to put the tying and winning runs in scoring position. Moore then walked Ernie De La Trinidad to load the bases and Sherman Johnson to score Pantoja, tying the game at five. Following Johnson's walk, Cornelius Randolph walked on four straight pitches to score Lopez and give the Cougars a 6-5 victory.

To start the ballgame, the Cougars immediately jumped out to a lead against Lincoln starter Garret Delano. In the bottom of the first, De La Trinidad singled and Sherman Johnson drew a walk before Jimmy Kerrigan crushed a three-run homer down the left field line to make it 3-0. It was Kerrigan's 27th home run of the season.

Lincoln struck back with two runs in the top of the second against Cougars' starter Jose Fuentes. Randy Norris drove in both runs with a two-out single that pulled the Salt Dogs within a run. Fuentes finished just shy of a quality start, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts against three walks over 5.2 innings of work.

It remained a 3-2 Kane County lead until the top of the eighth inning. Lincoln scored three runs in the frame on a Skyler Weber RBI fielder's choice, a Justin Byrd single, and a Rayder Ascanio squeeze bunt to go ahead 5-4.

Ryan Tapani (7-6) earned the win for the Cougars by pitching a scoreless top of the ninth inning. Tapani allowed two hits in the frame, but stranded runners at second and third while picking up two strikeouts. Tapani's strong effort set the table for the Cougars' walk-off in the ninth.