Cougars fall to Cleburne, lock into third seed in playoffs

Seven pitchers combined to give the Cleburne Railroaders a 5-2 victory over the Kane County Cougars on Sunday night at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.

Cleburne’s pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts.

After two scoreless innings, Cleburne jumped to a 2-0 lead in the top of the third against Cougars (54-44) starter Jake Gilbert. In the top of the fourth, Cleburne added to the lead. Tommy Sacco worked a walk and later stole second and third. Aldrete then drove home Sacco with a single to make it 3-0.

Cougars’ reliever Westin Muir came on in relief of Gilbert and provided quality work out of the pen. The right-hander held Cleburne scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings. However, Cleburne got to Muir in the seventh and built a 5-0 lead.

The Cougars finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Jairus Richards worked a walk and stole second. Nick Dalesandro’s RBI single made it 5-1.

The Cougars threatened in the bottom of the ninth. Josh Allen and Matt Bottcher worked back-to-back walks to lead off the inning. Richards grounded into a double play, but Allen moved to third. Dalesandro drove in his second run of the night with another single.

However, a fly out ended the ballgame. The loss locked the Cougars into the third seed in the East Division for the Miles Wolff Cup Playoffs, which begin Wednesday when the Cougars host the Lake Country DockHounds.