Cougars rally again to sweep Bandits

GENEVA -- For the second day in a row the Kane County Cougars fell behind early but battled back to beat the Quad Cities River Bandits, this time erasing a 2-0 hole and winning, 4-2, Thursday afternoon in front of 5,069 at Elfstrom Stadium. The Cougars swept the three-game set, have won four in a row and are above .500 for the first time in 11 days.

Franklin Hernandez had the game's big swing, delivering a go-ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead. That put starter Rob Gilliam (1-1) in line for a win that he eventually received. Gilliam gave up two runs -- both in the first -- on seven hits, walked one and fanned six over six innings, his third quality start in five tries. Ryan Quigley tossed two scoreless innings and fanned four, and Jose Guzman pitched a perfect ninth for his third save.

Rashun Dixon drove in two runs to help the offense. He poked a sacrifice fly in the fourth to get the Cougars on the board and then plated pinch-runner Myrio Richard in the eighth with a grounder to account for the 4-2 final. Deryk Hooker (1-1) suffered the loss for Quad Cities (14-7).

Now the Cougars (10-10) hit the road for a seven game road trip to Iowa with four games against the Cedar Rapids Kernels and three against the Burlington Bees. Friday night's game against the Kernels starts at 6:35 CT and features Ian Krol (0-1, 4.80) against Fabio Martinez (1-1, 5.28). The game will be broadcast on WBIG 1280-AM and online at www.kccougars.com, with pregame coverage starting at 6:20 p.m.

6:20 PM (CDT) Pre-Game Show, 6:35 First Pitch on WBIG Radio 1280-AM.