Cougars rally but still fall

DAVENPORT, Iowa — After falling behind early, the Kane County Cougars fought back to tie before dropping a 4-2 decision to the Quad Cities River Bandits at Modern Woodmen Park on Friday.

Tayler Scott surrendered 11 hits in 5 innings but limited the River Bandits (40-31, 2-0) to a pair of runs. Teoscar Hernandez led off the bottom of the first with a single, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Carlos Correa’s hit. Jesse Wierzbicki singled, but Correa was thrown out at third. In the second, the River Bandits’ Austin Elkins blasted a long home run to right.

In the top of the fifth, River Bandits starter Mike Hauschild walked Marco Hernandez with one out, and Hernandez scored on Carlos Escobar’s RBI single. Reggie Golden came home on Gioskar Amaya’s double to even the score at 2-2.

Jordan Jankowski (3-0) blanked the Cougars (30-38, 0-2) through the next 3 innings with 6 strikeouts.

In the seventh, the River Bandits loaded the bases with one out. Elkins hit a bouncer to Amaya at second, but Hernandez dropped the flip from Amaya and Roberto Pena scored the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the eighth, Wierzbicki singled home another run to give the River Bandits a 4-2 cushion. John Neely earned his 12th save with a perfect ninth inning.

The Cougars and River Bandits play Game 3 of their four-game series today at 7 p.m. Left-hander Michael Heesch (3-5) starts for the Cougars against lefty Colton Cain (3-5).