Kane County Cougars fall in 10 innings

In a thrilling game that took 10 innings to decide, the Cleburne Railroaders came out on top with a 10-5 victory over the Kane County Cougars on Thursday night at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.

The Cougars (31-23) had a chance to win the ballgame in the bottom of the ninth inning. Kane County entered the inning trailing 5-4 with Cleburne (32-24) closer Kristian Scott (5-1) on the mound for a third inning of work. Scott promptly walked Galli Cribbs Jr., who moved to second on a groundout by Armond Upshaw.

Josh Allen then drew another walk before Cornelius Randolph singled to load the bases. Then, Todd Lott drew another walk to score Cribbs and tie the game at five. However, Scott struck out Claudio Finol and induced a flyout from Jonah Davis to send the game to extras.

In the top of 10th, Cleburne put the game out of reach. With one out, Blake Grant-Parks hit a single off Garrett Williams (0-2) that scored the inherited runner Carter Aldrete to make it 6-5. C.J. Carter then entered the ballgame for the Cougars and loaded the bases by hitting one batter and walking another.

Shed Long then belted a grand slam down the right-field line to make it 10-5 Cleburne. Facing a 5-run deficit, the Cougars went down in order in the bottom of the 10th.