Explosive Offense Leads Cougars Past DockHounds
June 21, 2024 - American Association (AA)
Kane County Cougars News Release
GENEVA, Ill. - The Kane County Cougars continued their hot hitting, posting a nine run fifth inning on the way to a 13-8 victory over the Lake Country DockHounds on Friday night at Northwestern Medicine Field.
Early in the game, Lake Country (16-22) jumped out to the lead against Cougars' (23-15) starter Jack Fox (5-1). In the top of the second, Marek Chlup drove in the first run of the ballgame with an RBI single. Lake County continued to add on with a sacrifice fly by Deivy Grullon and two-run homer from Thomas Jones to take a 4-0 lead.
After falling behind, it was just about all Cougars the rest of the night. In the bottom of the second, Todd Lott worked a lead-off walk from Lake Country starter Luke Hansel (0-1). Following Lott's walk, Jonah Davis crushed a mammoth home run over the patio deck in right field to make it a 4-2 ballgame. Later in the inning, Hayden Dunhurst brought home another run on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-3.
One inning later, the Cougars tied it up. Cornelius Randolph led off the inning with a single before Todd Lott was hit by a pitch to put two runners aboard. Then, a Claudio Finol grounder led to a throwing error that brought home Randolph to tie the game at four.
After surrendering four early runs, Fox steadied the waters by putting up three straight scoreless innings. The top of the fifth was highlighted by a tremendous leaping catch in center field from Armond Upshaw to keep the game tied.
Following Upshaw's catch, the Cougars broke the game wide open. Kane County racked up nine runs on eight hits in the bottom of the fifth inning, as 15 hitters came to the plate. The exclamation point in the inning came on a grand slam down the right field line by Randolph to give the Cougars a 13-4 lead.
Lake Country did cut into the lead with a run in sixth, two in the seventh, and one in the ninth. However, the Cougars had more than enough insurance to hold on for a 13-8 victory. The win was the seventh in the last eight games for the first place Cougars. Kane County has now scored 52 runs over the last five games.
The Cougars continue the series with DockHounds on Saturday night. Right-hander John Swanda (3-1, 5.40) takes the mound for Lake Country against fellow righty Nick Belzer (4-1, 2.65) for the Cougars. Saturday's game is "The Eras Night", with fans having the chance to win tickets to the November 1st Taylor Swift concert at Lucas Oil Stadium. For tickets and more information call 630-232-8811 or visit kccougars.com/tickets.
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