Cougars win seventh straight behind Sharp, bullpen

The Kane County Cougars (38-31) stretched their season-best winning streak to seven games Wednesday night at Northwestern Medicine Field, defeating the Cleburne Railroaders (35-36) 3-1 behind another strong pitching performance and timely hitting.

Reese Sharp (5-6) turned in 5⅔ innings of one-run baseball to earn his fifth victory of the season, while the Cougars bullpen combined for 3⅓ scoreless innings to preserve the win. Jake Gozzo recorded his league-leading 16th save, striking out the final batter with the tying run 90 feet away.

Kane County grabbed an early lead in the first when Armond Upshaw worked a leadoff walk, stole second for his 35th stolen base of the season, and scored on Jairus Richards' RBI single down the right-field line.

Cleburne evened the game in the fourth after Angel Mendoza's RBI single drove in Carter Aldrete, but the Cougars answered immediately. Todd Lott opened the bottom of the inning by launching his fifth home run of the season — his first at Northwestern Medicine Field — over the left-center field wall to put Kane County back in front 2-1.