Cougars top RedHawks in extras
With the Cougars trailing 8-7 in the bottom of the 11th inning, Sherman Johnson hit a 2-run walk-off single back through the middle to give Kane County a 9-8 victory over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks on Tuesday night at Northwestern Medicine Field.
On four separate occasions, the Cougars (11-5) came back to erase a RedHawks (12-4) lead. After Fargo took an 8-7 lead in the top of the 11th on a sacrifice fly by Rymer Liriano, Milton Perez started the bottom of the 11th on second base. Cornelius Randolph then singled Perez to third off Fargo reliever Davis Feldman (1-2), before a passed ball pushed Randolph to second. Johnson then singled up the middle to score both runners and seal the Cougars win.
The RedHawks jumped out to an early lead against Kane County starter Vance Worley. In the top of the second, Sam Dexter blooped a single to score Liriano and make it 1-0. Fargo-Moorhead added another run in the top of third on a solo homer over the right field fence by Pete Maris.
In the bottom of the third, the Cougars cut the RedHawks lead in half against Fargo starter Tyler Grauer. Donivan Williams led off the frame with a double down the right field line before coming into score on a Randolph RBI groundout.
Fargo padded its lead in the bottom of the eighth. Drew Ward and Leobaldo Piña hit back-to-back singles to lead-off the frame against Cougars reliever C.J. Carter. Following a John Silviano walk that loaded the bases, Lirano singled into left-center field to stretch the RedHawks lead to 4-1.
It took a dramatic rally in the bottom of the eighth for Kane County to tie it up. Randolph, Johnson, and Steve Lombardozzi started the frame with three straight singles to load the bases. Then, Jimmy Kerrigan lined a ball just off the glove of Liriano in left field to score Randolph, but Kerrigan was thrown out trying to reach second.
With Nick Anderson at the plate, Joe Jones fired a wild pitch to score Johnson and make it 4-3. Anderson then doubled into right field to score Lombardozzi and tie the game at four, but was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a triple.
After the RedHawks scored a run in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Silviano, the Cougars would rally again. With one out, Williams doubled with an impressive slide at second base and later came in to score on an RBI single by Johnson to tie the game at five.
In the 10th inning, both teams would plate two runs. The Cougars tied it up thanks to back-to-back RBI singles from Alexis Pantoja and Williams to make it 7-7. Jack Anderson (1-0) earned the win for the Cougars, as he allowed just one unearned run in the top of the 11th.