Cougars lose wild one to Kansas City
In a wild ballgame, the Kane County Cougars fell 9-8 to the Kansas City Monarchs in 10 innings Tuesday night at Northwestern Medicine Field.
The game entered extra innings tied at eight. Facing Cougars’ (20-15) reliever Tyler Beardsley (0-2), Channy Ortiz laid down a bunt to move the placed runner Frankie Tostado to third. Herbert Iser hit a line drive single to left field to score Tostado and put the Monarchs (19-15) up 9-8.
In the bottom of the 10th, the Cougars rallied against Jackson McClelland (4-3). Trendon Craig began the inning as the placed runner and reached third following a Jonah Davis walk and sacrifice bunt by Claudio Finol. After an intentional walk to Simon Reid, the Cougars had the bases loaded with one out. However, McClelland induced a ground ball double play off the bat of Ernny Ordoñez to end the ballgame. Prior to extras, each team scored seven unanswered runs at different points in the night.
Kansas City took an early lead in the top of the first against Cougars’ starter Greg Mahle. With one out, Ross Adolph reached on a dropped third strike. Two batters later, Trent Giambrone drove in Adolph with a single to make it 1-0.
In the bottom of the second, the Cougars struck back. Jonah Davis and Claudio Finol started the frame with back-to-back singles. Later in the inning, Ordoñez poked a single through the middle to score Davis and tie the game at one. Following a fly out, Armond Upshaw crushed a three-run homer over the left field wall to put the Cougars up 4-1.
The Cougars continued to add to the lead in the third and fourth innings. Cornelius Randolph led off the third with a double down the right field line before coming in to score on a dropped third strike later in the frame. One inning later, Randolph belted a two-run homer to left-center field to put the Cougars up 7-1.
Kansas City slowly chipped away in the top of the fifth. An RBI single by Trent Giambrone and fielder’s choice off the bat of Tostado brought in two runs to make it 7-3.
The Monarchs had a huge seventh inning. Travis Swaggerty drove in the first run of the frame with a sacrifice fly, and later in the inning Tostado brought home a run with a single to pull Kansas City within 7-5. Two batters after Tostado’s single, Iser blasted a three-run homer over the right field wall to put the Monarchs in front 8-7.
Kane County managed to tie it up in the bottom of the ninth to force extras. Upshaw led off the inning with a walk before stealing second. Josh Allen worked a walk to put two runners aboard. Following a fly out by Randolph, Todd Lott blooped a two-out single to score Upshaw and tie the game at eight.