Great pitching sends Cougars to 4-1 win over Chiefs

Another dominant performance by the Kane County Cougars' (35-32) starting pitcher set the tone for a win. A 4-1 victory over the Peoria Chiefs (33-34) at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark Friday evening was the eighth straight home win for the Cougars.

Touki Toussaint (2-2) tossed six scoreless innings on the day before his 19th birthday. The Cougar right-hander allowed just 1 hit through his six scoreless frames and a total of just 3 base runners and struck out 5 batters.

The Cougars grabbed a pair of 2-out runs off of Peoria's starter Daniel Poncedeleon (6-1) in the third inning. Former Chief Ildemaro Vargas kept the inning alive with a 2-out double, and scored on Cody Regis' run-scoring triple. Rehabbing Oscar Hernandez doubled the Cougar lead with a RBI single a batter later.

The offense plated twice more against Poncedeleon with Hernandez's second RBI hit in the fifth and an RBI knock from Michael Perez in the seventh.

The Chiefs did not find the scoreboard until the ninth inning as they scored an unearned run off of Troy Marks. Steve Hathaway came on to face the catcher Steve Bean and struck out the left-handed hitter on 3 pitches. Hathaway picked up his first save of the season with the punchout.

The Cougars and Chiefs continue their series on Saturday. Ethan Elais (6-3, 2.84) takes the mound for the Cougars against Peoria's Matt Pearce (3-7, 3.98).