Cougars drop home opener

The Kane County Cougars’ home opener did not turn out the way they had hoped, and the trouble started early.

Quad Cities scored twice in the first inning on back-to-back doubles by Jonathan Rodriguez and Cody Stanley, then twice more in the fourth, fifth, and eighth on the way to an 8-3 win in front of 2,342 at Elfstrom Stadium.

While Kane County starter Crawford Simmons struggled through his 4 innings of work, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits while walking 3 and striking out 2, his counterpart, Quad Cities lefty Kevin Siegrist, settled in quickly and pitched 6 strong innings to earn the win.

“I felt my fastball was strong today, and I hit my spots pretty good,” Siegrist said. “It always helps when you get an early lead.”

Palos Heights native Greg Billo took over on the mound for the Cougars in the fifth and pitched well, retiring 8 straight after a throwing error by catcher Ryan Jenkins led to a pair of unearned runs.

“(Billo) did a great job, and I was proud of the way he battled back,” Kane County manager Vance Wilson said. “We wanted to get him to a pretty high pitch count today.”

The Cougars were trailing 6-1 in the sixth when Brian Fletcher knocked a two-out double, and Murray Watts followed with the second of his 2 hits on the day, this one an RBI single.

“I was able to make some adjustments after my first and second at bats, and that really helped,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher was in the middle of the Cougars’ last productive inning, as he singled in Gerard Hall in the eighth.

“We seem to have a couple of quick innings, and then we settle in,” Wilson said. “Our guys figured some things out and we had a couple of rallies, but the hole was too big.”

As one-sided as the game proved to be, it would have been much worse if not for third baseman Angel Franco, who took away at least two, and possibly three, extra base hits from the River Bandits.

“Angel was outstanding today,” Wilson said. “If you can get that from your third baseman every night you’re going to win a lot of games with your defense.”

Of greater concern for the Cougars than this one loss is the status of centerfielder Brett Eibner, a second round pick in 2010, who injured his thumb in last Friday’s game at Wisconsin.

“He’s going to see a doctor, and hopefully we’ll know tomorrow whether he jammed it or if it’s something worse,” Wilson said.

The Cougars (2-3) will get three more cracks at the River Bandits (3-2) before hitting the road for three games in Clinton.