Kane County Cougars end four-game winning streak

For the first time in 2015, the Kane County Cougars (42-20, 78-52) lost a Sunday home game as the Beloit Snappers (27-34, 53-78) jumped out to a 7-0 lead early on in the series opener.

Beloit's offense collected 7 runs of offense in the first four innings as they knocked out Cougars starter Josh Taylor (3-3). Jose Brizuela, Argenis Raga and Joe Bennie all drove in a pair of runs throughout the first four frames as the Snappers scored 3 runs in the second, 2 in the third and 2 in the fourth.

Daniel Gossett (5-12) allowed just 3 hits to the Cougars' offense all day. Victor Reyes connected on the team's first hit with a 1-out single in the third. Gossett's final inning came in the sixth and it was the first frame that the Cougars put more than one base runner on.

Hector Hernandez tossed four and one-third innings of nearly perfect baseball in relief as he only allowed 1 hit in his time on the mound.

Colin Bray brought denied the shutout with a sacrifice fly in the eighth to score Victor Reyes. Ildemaro Vargas later scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit 7-2.

Using every reliever over the past two days, the Cougars sent catcher Elvin Soto to the mound in the ninth. The right-hander allowed just 1 run to the Snappers' offense with James Harris' sacrifice fly.

Making noise in the bottom of the ninth, the Cougars put the first two runners on and Michael Perez cashed in a run with a double off the right field wall. Reyes' RBI groundout brought the Cougars within four, while Snapper reliever Rob Huber left the game responsible for runners at the corners. Left-hander Cody Stull walked Bray to load the bases and put the tying run at the plate. Stull hung on for his first save of the season as he struck out Henry Castillo and finished an 11-pitch at-bat against Marty Herum with a groundout to the shortstop.

The Cougars look to even up the series as they host the Snappers on Monday evening.