Cougars rally, sting Bees 6-5
Julio Aparicio’s bloop, two-out, 2-run single in the eighth inning Thursday night broke a 4-4 tie and helped lift the Kane County Cougars to a 6-5 victory over the Burlington Bees at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.
Danny Mateo started the rally for the Cougars (38-39, 4-3) with a single off reliever Tanner Peters (0-1). Jorge Bonifacio then walked. Michael Antonio flied to right to move Mateo to third, and Bonifacio stole second before Aparicio dunked a ball over the head of second baseman Chih-Fang Pan to bring home both runners.
Murray Watts helped the Cougars grab the lead initially as he hit a 3-run homer over the wall in right off starter Seth Frankoff, who lasted 5 innings.
Frankoff walked Antonio and Aparicio to set the table for Watts in the second.
Bryan Brickhouse held the Bees (37-39, 5-2) scoreless through the first three innings but allowed 4 runs in the fourth on a 2-run double by John Nester and a 2-run homer by Sean Jamieson.
Kane County evened the score at 4-4 in the fifth when Alex Llanos singled and advanced to third on a Jack Lopez sacrifice bunt plus a Frankoff throwing error. Mateo grounded to first, scoring Llanos.
Cody Fassold was solid out of the Cougars’ bullpen with 3 hitless, shutout innings. Malcom Culver (2-0) got the final six outs despite coughing up a run in the ninth.