Kane County Cougars force extra innings but lose in 11th

Despite some late-game heroics, the Kane County Cougars couldn’t complete the comeback in extra innings against the Lincoln Saltdogs on Saturday night at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.

The Saltdogs (7-13) got the scoring started early in the game against Jack Fox. Yusniel Diaz doubled to lead off the second inning, and he’d be doubled in two batters later by Neyfy Castillo to give the Saltdogs the early 1-0 lead.

The scoring didn’t stop there for Lincoln though as Connor Denning singled in Castillo from second, and then finally Danny Bautista drove in Denning to stretch the Saltdog lead to 3-0.

After that Fox settled in and pitched four scoreless innings. The pitching kept the Cougars (8-12) in the ballgame all the way into the ninth inning. Robby Martin finally got the Cougars bats warmed up with a line-drive home run over the left-field wall off the Saltdogs closer Dutch Landis to cut the lead to 3-1.

Claudio Finol would follow that up with a single of his own, and then Trendon Craig followed suit a batter later. After Armond Upshaw was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs in the ninth, Oscar Santos stepped up and drove one of the biggest hits of the Cougars season back up the middle.

Finol and Craig both scored on the play, and the Cougars had new life heading to extra innings tied 3-3.