Cougars crush Sioux City after visitors survive fire on bus

For a second straight game, the Kane County Cougars put double digits on the scoreboard, as the home team collected 18 hits in an 11-1 romp over the Sioux City Explorers in front of 6,177 fans on Friday night at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.

Sioux City almost didn’t make it.

A bus that was transporting the team from Iowa caught fire. Earlham (Iowa) Fire & Rescue said in a Facebook post that members of the Sioux City Explorers made it off the charter bus safely early Friday. The fire department blamed a mechanical issue for sparking the fire, which spread from the engine to the passenger area.

State Rep. J.D. Scholten, who is a pitcher for the team, wrote in a Facebook post that he was asleep when the bus came to a stop and teammates in the back started telling everyone to get off. He said he was grateful no one was hurt.

The Cougars (42-31) quickly gained the lead in the bottom of the first against Sioux City (32-38) starter Jaren Jackson (1-4). Alex McGarry and Claudio Finol both singled before a Todd Lott fielder’s choice put runners at the corners. Then, Claudio Finol poked a single to score the first run of the ballgame. Josh Allen followed up Finol’s hit with another single to score Lott and make it 2-0. Kane County added another run in the second on a wild pitch to go up 3-0.

Two innings later, Lott blasted a 2-run homer over the left field wall to make it 5-0. Lott finished the night 4-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBI.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Cougars really began to pour it on. To start the scoring in the inning, Josh Allen belted a solo homer over the scoreboard in left to make it 6-0. After three walks loaded the bases later in the inning, Cornelius Randolph crushed a line drive over the right field wall for his second grand slam of the season. Randolph’s long ball made it a 10-0 lead for the Cougars.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.