Cougars drop 5th straight

Davenport, Iowa - The Kane County Cougars (31-31) losing skid grew to five games with a 5-3 loss to the Quad Cities River Bandits (39-20) on Sunday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Michael Wielansky's seventh inning bases-clearing double proved to be the game-winning knock. Quad Cities clinched a playoff spot with the win.

A hand injury held Cougar infielder Blaze Alexander out of the lineup the past three days. In his return to the lineup, his first at-bat resulted in a two-run double to put the Cougars up 2-0 in the first inning. Alexander's spot came back up in the fourth. He singled to start another rally. Alexander ultimately scored on Tra Holmes' RBI single to give the Cougars a 3-0 edge.

Cougar starter Ryan Weiss fired three shutout innings to start his night. In the fourth, David Hensley led off with a single and Freudis Nova doubled to left to drive Hensley in and make it 3-1 Cougars. That was the only run Weiss allowed over 4.1 innings. He exited with no decision.

Ethan Larrison tossed 1.2 innings of shutout ball out of the Cougar bullpen before handing it over to Franklyn Soriano. In the seventh, Soriano loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. He hit Nova with a pitch, forcing in a run to make it a one-run game. After the hit-by-pitch, Soriano was taken out of the game in favor of Wesley Rodriguez. Michael Wielansky's bases-clearing double was Rodriguez's first batter.

Soriano (2-2) took the loss. He was charged with all four seventh inning runs. Joey Gonzalez (1-1) earned the win for Quad Cities. He didn't give up a run over three innings.

The Cougars look to avoid a four-game sweep against the River Bandits on Monday night at 6:35 p.m. LHP Michel Gelabert (1-1, 3.18) takes the ball for the Cougars versus RHP Matt Rupenthal (2-0, 2.33).