Kane County Cougars open series by clobbering Saltdogs

The Kane County Cougars (9-4) opened their series against the Lincoln Saltdogs (4-10) with a convincing 12-3 victory on Friday night at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.

The Cougars jumped in front early and never looked back behind a strong start from Ben Kowalski (1-0) and a balanced offensive attack that produced 15 hits, tying a season high.

After Kowalski worked a scoreless first inning, Kane County struck in the bottom half against Trey Jones (1-2). Armond Upshaw, Matt Bottcher and Alex McGarry all reached base before Claudio Finol cleared them with a three-run double off the wall in center field, giving the Cougars a 3-0 lead.

Kowalski ran into traffic in both the second and third innings but worked out of trouble each time. The right-hander continued to settle in, retiring seven straight batters at one point and holding Lincoln scoreless through six innings. He allowed just five hits while striking out six to earn his first victory of the season.

The Cougars added another run in the third when Finol drove in Bottcher with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4-0.