Kane County Cougars clinch another series victory

The Kane County Cougars (8-4) secured another series victory on Thursday night at Northwestern Medicine Field, defeating the Sioux Falls Canaries (9-4) by a final score of 5-2 in the rubber game of a matchup between the American Association's division leaders.

Konnor Ash (3-0) turned in his best outing of the season, tossing eight shutout innings while allowing just two hits and striking out seven. The right-hander retired the first nine batters he faced and never allowed the Canaries to mount a serious threat, lowering the curtain on a dominant series-opening performance from the Cougars pitching staff.

After three scoreless innings from both starters, Kane County broke through in the fourth against Chase Gearing (1-1). Josh Allen opened the inning with a walk before Matt Bottcher and Todd Lott followed with back-to-back hits. Lott's RBI single scored Allen to put the Cougars ahead 1-0, and Alex McGarry followed with another RBI basehit to double the lead. Later in the inning, Claudio Finol's shallow sacrifice fly led to a throwing error that allowed Lott to score and extend the advantage to 3-0.