Kane County Cougars advance to meet Chicago Dogs in championship series

The Kane County Cougars fought back from a 2-0 deficit to walk-off the Milwaukee Milkmen to secure their East Division championship spot Saturday night at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva with a 3-2 victory. Vin Timpanelli, Zach Veen, Casey Crosby and Jake Gozzo combined to hold the Milkmen to just two runs, including six straight scoreless innings.

For the third game in a row, the Milkmen took the early lead against the Cougars. It started in the top of the second against Vin TImpanelli. Parker Lester shot a ball to the right-center field wall that scored Alec Olund from first and gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead.

Milwaukee turned to lefty Denny Bentley to try and push the game to extra innings. After getting the first out, Claudio Finol hit an opposite-field drive into right to climb aboard. Nick Dalesandro followed that up with a single back up the middle to set up runners at first and second with one out. After a long battle at the plate, Bentley was able to strikeout Spinn for out number two.

But during his at-bat against Trendon Craig, Bentley threw a pitch into the dirt that got away from Hollow and moved Dalesandro to second and Finol to third. Two pitches later, Bentley spiked another ball into the ground. It bounced off Hollow and rolled to the left. Finol sprinted toward home and crossed with his arms in the air, immediately embraced by his teammates.

The Cougars will be back for Game 1 of the East Division championship against the Chicago Dogs at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Geneva. It will be the first of a five-game series to decide who will go to the Miles Wolff Cup Finals.