Kane County Cougars comeback bid falls a little short

The Kane County Cougars nearly erased a 4-run deficit but ultimately came up just short in a 6-5 loss to the Lake Country DockHounds in front of 7,743 fans on Saturday night at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.

Lake Country (17-22) jumped out to an early lead against Kane County (23-16) starter Nick Belzer (4-2). In the top of the first inning, Belzer hit a batter and walked a pair to load the bases. Ryan Hernandez then drove in the first run of the ballgame with a sacrifice fly. One batter later, Josh Altman poked a single to score another run to make it 2-0 Lake Country.

The DockHounds added on in the top of the second. Deivy Grullon drew a walk and Thomas Jones singled to put two runners aboard. Blake Tiberi knocked in a run to push the lead to three.

Kane County responded in the bottom of the third inning. Claudio Finol led off the inning with a double down the left-field line. Two batters later, Galli Cribbs Jr. drove in Finol with a single to make it 3-1. The Cougars added another run in the third on a balk by DockHounds starter John Swanda (4-1) to make it 3-2.

Lake Country extended its lead in the middle innings. Tiberi brought in another run in the fourth with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. In the fifth, the DockHounds added two more on a solo homer by Hernandez and RBI single from Marek Chulp to go up 6-2.