Dogs hold off Cougars rally
The Chicago Dogs held on for Sunday’s 7-4 win over the Kane County Cougars at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.
Trailing 7-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Simon Reid singled and Harrison Smith was hit by a pitch to start the inning against Chicago (13-14) reliever Cal Coughlin. Armond Upshaw worked a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. A wild pitch then brought home Reid to pull the Cougars (16-12) within three runs. Je’von Ward then lined out for the first out of the inning.
Following Ward’s lineout, Josh Allen was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Chicago closer Joey Marciano entered and managed to strike out Jonah Davis. Marciano then induced a groundout from Claudio Finol to end the rally and clinch a 7-4 win for the Dogs.
Chicago took an early lead against Cougars’ starter Tyler Beardsley (0-1) in the top of the second. To start the frame, Johnni Trurbo and Jesus Lujano hit back-to-back singles. A third straight single by Nick Novak brought home the first run of the ballgame. Nick Dalesandro poked a two-run single to make it 3-0. The Dogs went on to add another run on an error by shortstop Harrison Smith to make it a 4-0 edge.
After a couple of scoreless innings by Beardsley, Chicago added to its lead. In the top of the fifth, Narcisco Crook led off with a single. Following Crook’s single, Jacob Teter crushed a two-run homer to right field to put Chicago ahead 6-0.
The Cougars began to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the fifth against Chicago starter Matt Walker. Ernny Ordoñez led off with a double into the left field corner. Two batters later, Reid hit a double of his own to get Kane County on the board. After Reid’s double, Smith smacked the third double of the inning to score Reid and make it 6-2.
Kane County continued to chip away in the bottom of the sixth. Josh Allen and Jonah Davis hit back-to-back singles. Claudio Finol ripped a single to score Allen and pull the Cougars within three runs.
In the top of the eighth, the Dogs added another run on a bases-loaded walk by Crook to make it 7-3 before the Cougars comeback in the ninth.