Kane County Cougars split afternoon doubleheader at home against Sioux Falls

The Kane County Cougars and Sioux Falls Canaries split a pair of seven-inning pitchers’ duels on Wednesday at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva. Kane County took the first game 4-0 before Sioux Falls answered with a 1-0 victory in Game 2.

Runs were hard to find early in Game 1 as Reese Sharp (1-1) and Derek Craft (1-1) traded scoreless innings through the first three. Sharp settled in quickly, striking out the side in the fourth inning while retiring the middle of the Sioux Falls (9-3) order for the second time.

The Cougars (7-4) broke through in the bottom of the fourth. Matt Bottcher singled before Todd Lott doubled into the gap to put runners at second and third. Alex McGarry lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Bottcher and give Kane County a 1-0 lead.

Claudio Finol added to the advantage later in the inning with an RBI single before eventually scoring on a Zane Spinn base hit to make it 3-0.

Sharp continued to dominate in the fifth, finishing his outing with nine strikeouts across five scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and one walk.