Gary SouthShore rallies late to grab victory from Kane County Cougars

The Kane County Cougars (17-16) were nine outs away from evening the series before a late Gary SouthShore rally spoiled a dominant outing from Konnor Ash, as the RailCats (18-16) stormed back for an 8-5 victory Wednesday night at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.

Ash worked out of immediate trouble in the first inning, escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam with back-to-back strikeouts and a weak groundball to keep the game scoreless. The right-hander settled in from there, retiring nine consecutive hitters at one point and matching a season high with eight strikeouts over six scoreless innings.

Peyton Long was equally sharp early for Gary, holding the Cougars scoreless through the first three innings before a rain delay ended his night after three innings.

Kane County finally broke through in the fifth against reliever Chas Cywin. Charles Mack led off with a walk before Sam Dexter dropped a bunt single and Nick Dalesandro advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Zane Spinn started the rally with an RBI single before Josh Allen and Matt Bottcher followed with run-scoring basehits. Todd Lott added an RBI groundout to cap a four-run inning and give the Cougars a 4-0 lead.