Cougars Fall Short of Sweep in Final Game of Series
July 27, 2025 - American Association (AA)
Kane County Cougars News Release
GENEVA, Ill. - The Kane County Cougars found two late runs in the bottom of the ninth, but ultimately fell short of another comeback win against the Kansas City Monarchs in a 9-7 loss Sunday afternoon at Northwestern Medicine Field.
The Cougars (31-36) picked up their hot bats from last night early in this game against Daniel Martinez. Trendon Craig led off the game with a leadoff single and stole second base. Marcus Chiu then pushed a ball on a line through the infield, scoring Craig and giving the Cougars an early 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the second, the Cougars tacked on two more after Claudio Finol was hit by a pitch and stole second. Cade Parker then smoked a ball to the wall in centerfield, scoring Finol and giving the Cougars a 2-0 lead. The next at-bat, Craig picked up his second hit of the game up the middle, scoring Parker and extending the lead 3-0.
In the top of the third, the Monarchs (40-29) would put up their first run of the game off Westin Muir. Muir retired the first eight Monarchs in order, but Ryan Leitch changed that with a single to right. Jorge Bonifacio then picked up his first hit of the series with a deep double off the wall in left, scoring Leitch and cutting the lead to 3-1. In the fourth, the Monarchs scored another when John Nogowski stroked a double down the rightfield line. Jaylyn Williams stepped in a couple batters later and put a single into shallow centerfield, scoring Nogowski and making the score 3-2.
Martinez caught fire after the first two innings throwing three scoreless frames and striking out nine along the way. It set up Robbie Glendinning to fire his first home run of the series off Logan Nissen in the top of the sixth, tying the game up 3-3.
The seventh inning would once again be an eventful inning between the Cougars and Monarchs. After Williams walked to lead off the inning, Leitch picked up his second hit of the game to set up runners at the corners. Ross Adolph was then hit by a pitch, and Bonifacio was walked with the bases loaded to score the go-ahead run, giving the Monarchs their first leas 4-3. They tacked on one more run via a sacrifice fly by Micah Pries, pushing the lead to 5-3.
However, the Cougars responded in the bottom of the inning. Craig picked up his third hit of the game with a double. He would score on the next at-bat when Josh Allen blasted a ball off the centerfield wall and got all the way to third base for his first triple of the year. With the score at 5-4, Chiu stepped up and smacked the third straight extra base hit of the inning doubling himself aboard and tying the game late evening the score at 5-5. The Monarchs stopped the bleeding though with the help of Josh Bortka (1-1) who pitched the next inning and a third scoreless and striking out two.
With the game knotted up in the ninth, the Cougars looked to Jake Gozzo (2-3) to keep the score level. Gozzo walked Josh Bissonette and Adolph early in the inning. Pries then stepped in and shot a ball that hit Gozzo in the side and trickled into leftfield. Bissonette and Adolph both scored on the play, giving Kansas City the lead again 7-5. The next batter was Glendinning, who stood in and cruised his second home run of the game, scoring himself and Pries, making the lead 9-5. The Cougars did not go down without a fight though in the bottom of the ninth. Craig picked up his fourth hit of the game off Jeff Hakanson to start the inning. Two batters later, Chiu clobbered his third hit of the game and 11th home run of the season over the leftfield wall to cut the lead to 9-7. But ultimately, Hakanson put down the final outs in the ninth inning and secured the 9-7 victory for the Monarchs.
The Cougars will have an off day tomorrow, and then start a three-game series with the Dogs starting Tuesday, July 29th at Impact Field. They will return to Northwestern Medicine Field on Friday, August 1st to start a three-game series with the Fargo-MoreHead Redhawks. For tickets and more, visit kccougars.com or call 630-232-8811.
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