Cougars coast past Milwaukee

Great pitching and timely offense led the way for the Kane County Cougars on Sunday, as the team coasted to a 4-1 victory over the Milwaukee Milkmen at Northwestern Medicine Field.

Kane County (5-4) pitchers Nick Belzer (1-0), Ryan Richardson, and Ryan Nutof combined to hold the Milkmen (5-4) to just one run on seven hits. Belzer earned the win by allowing one run on five hits across five innings with six strikeouts against one walk. Following up Belzer, Ryan Richardson tossed three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with one strikeout. After Richardson, Ryan Nutof tossed a scoreless ninth to earn his third save of the season.

The Cougars jumped to an early lead in the bottom of the first against Milwaukee (5-4) starter Shane Barringer (0-1). With one out, Trendon Craig reached on an error and stole second. After Craig’s steal, Jonah Davis brought him home with an opposite field single to make it 1-0. One batter later, Josh Allen smacked a double to right-center field to score Davis and push the lead to two runs. Claudio Finol continued the hit parade with a single to score Allen for the third run in the first.

After four shutout innings from Belzer, Milwaukee got on the board in the fifth. Reggie Pruitt Jr. and Brett Rodriguez poked back-to-back singles to start the inning. Two batters later, Abdiel Layer hit a sacrifice fly to left field to make it a 3-1 ballgame.

Kane County responded in the bottom of the fifth. Armond Upshaw led off the inning with a double just inside the first base line. Later in the inning, Davis knocked in Upshaw with a single to right field to make it 4-1. From that point, the Cougars held the Milkmen off the board to preserve the win.

The Cougars now hit the road for three games against the Kansas City Monarchs. Kane County returns home for a four-game series against the Gary Southshore RailCats beginning Thursday.