Cougars take opener of Wolff Cup finals with win over Sioux Falls

Marcus Chiu’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Kane County Cougars to a 4-3 walk-off win over Sioux Falls in the opening game of the Miles Wolff Cup finals in Geneva.

After Jack Fox pitched a scoreless top of the first, the Cougars got to work against Matt Solter. Trendon Craig worked a leadoff walk and stole second base. Todd Lott poked a ball down the right field line that landed fair, scoring Craig from first and giving the Cougars an early 1-0 lead. That was answered by the Canaries in the top of the second. Three straight singles by Calvin Estrada, Jordan Barth, and Josh Rehwaldt set up bases loaded with nobody out. Peter Zimmerman popped a ball up to center field. Craig made the catch, but it was deep enough to score Estrada and knot the game at 1-1.

The Canaries nabbed their first lead of the game in the top of the fifth when Rehwaldt cranked a ball over the center field wall for a 2-1 lead for Sioux Falls. They tacked on another run after Matt Bottcher worked a walk with the bases loaded.

Kane County answered in the bottom of the inning. Back-to-back singles by Nick Dalesandro and Zane Spinn set up runners at the corners to start the inning. Josh Allen reached on an infield single to score Dalesandro and cut the margin to 3-2. A wild pitch tied it.

After Cougars reliever Jake Gozzo kept the game tied in the top of the ninth, the Cougars won it in the bottom of the inning.

The Cougars play Game 2 at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Northwestern Medicine Field.