The Cougars came back from a little two game setback to take game one of the series against the Burlington Bees 6-3. It helped that they scored four runs in the fifth inning. Plus the fact that the bullpen was lights out.
Scoring those four runs in that inning was helped by the Burlington deffense. Mike Massaro led off by beating out a bunt back towards the pitcher. Nick Blasi then followed with a single to left. Raul Padron bunted the runners into scoring position. Jeff Baisley got his first hit of the season, when he hit a ground rule double to center. On the play both Massaro and Blasi would score. The Bees would then make a pitching change. Taking out their starter Carlos Rosa and bringin in Cody Harkcom. Frank Martinez greated him with a single to right to score Baisley. He would make it to second on the throw in. Jeff Bieker then hit a fly to center. Martinez tagged up and went to third. A passed ball would allow Martinez to score.
Burlington took the lead in the first inning. Valentino Arce led off the game with a single to right center. Chris McConnell then walked. A passed ball on Raul Padron would move both runners up a base. Mario Lisson then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Arce.
Kane County tied the game up in the second inning. Jeff Bieker led off with a walk. Jose Pineda then doubled to right center to score Bieker.
The Bees scored another run in the third inning. With two outs, J.P. Lowen singled to left. Jeff Howell then walked. Carlos Arroyo followed with a single to right to score Lowen.
Again this time in the fourth inning the Bees would score a single run. Jose Duarte led off with a walk, then stole second. Ethien Santana reached on a bunt single just in front of the plate. Santana would be caught trying to steal second. Arce then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Duarte. Jose Pineda made a great throw to try to get him at home plate.
One extra run in the sixth inning for the Cougars would seal the game. Steve Kleen led off by reaching on an error by the shortstop. The throw was high. A wild pitch moved him to second. Justin Sellers would fly to right, Kleen tagged up and moved to third. Massaro walked. Blasi hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Kleen.
The Cougars could've scored more runs than they did. In the first inning with one out, Blasi doubled to left. Padron moved him to third with a grounder to second. Baisley then walked. Martinez would strike out to end the inning. In the fourth inning Martinez led off with a walk. Bieker reached on a fielder's choice with Martinez out at second. Pineda walked. Kleen struck out. Sellers would end the inning by grounding into a force play at second.
In the seventh inning, Padron led off by reaching on an error by the pitcher. Baisley then blooped a single to center. One out later, Bieker would reach on a fielder's choice, Baisley did a nice job of breaking up the double play by taking out the second baseman. Pineda then flew out to center to end the inning.
Burlington had their chances in the game. In the second inning with two outs. Santana doubled to left then stole third. Arce would end the inning with a pop out to first. In the sixth inning with two outs, Duarte singled to left. Santana then singled down the right field line. Arce was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Cougar pitcher Joe Piekarz did a nice job of getting out of the inning, He got McConnel to line to left to end it.
After the hit by pitch in the sixth, the Cougar pitchers would retire the next ten Bees. Piekarz, John Herrera, and Steve Sharpe did a nice job out of the pen.
Bees
| Name |
POS |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
| Valentino Arce |
2B |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
| Chris McConnell |
SS |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Mario Lisson |
3B |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| J.P. Lowen |
DH |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Jeff Howell |
C |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Carlos Arroyo |
RF |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Miguel Vega |
1B |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Jose Duarte |
CF |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Ethien Santana |
LF |
4 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
Cougars
| Name |
POS |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
| Mike Massaro |
CF |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Nick Blasi |
LF |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
| Raul Padron |
C |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Jeff Baisley |
3B |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| Frank Martinez |
2B |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
| Jeff Bieker |
DH |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Jose Pineda |
DH |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Steve Kleen |
1B |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Justin Sellers |
SS |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
E-McConnell, Kleen, LOB, BUR-8, KC-5, RLISP, BUR-5, KC-2, 2B-Baisley, Pineda, SACF-Arce, Lisson, Blasi, SACB-Padron, SB-Duarte, Santana, CS-Santana, Massaro, DP-Sellers (Kalkhof)(6-4-3)
| Burlington |
|
|
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
3 |
7 |
2 |
| Kane County |
|
|
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
0 |
4 |
1 |
|
0 |
0 |
X |
|
|
6 |
8 |
1 |
Bees
| Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Decison |
WP |
BK |
HB |
AB |
BF |
GB |
FB |
NP |
S |
| Carlos Rosa |
4.1+1 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
L (0-1) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
17 |
21 |
5 |
2 |
66 |
53 |
| Cody Harkcom |
2.2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
ND |
1 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
12 |
1 |
4 |
44 |
23 |
| Adam Kalkhof |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
ND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
18 |
7 |
Cougars
| Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Decison |
WP |
BK |
HB |
AB |
BF |
GB |
FB |
NP |
S |
| Jason Ray |
4 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
ND |
1 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
20 |
3 |
4 |
74 |
43 |
| Joe Piekarz |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
W (1-0) |
0 |
0 |
1 |
11 |
12 |
4 |
1 |
44 |
32 |
| Jon Herrera |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
ND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
| Steve Sharpe |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
SV (3) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
4 |
PB-Howell, HB-Arce (Piekarz), SO-Lisson, Howell 2, Arroyo, Vega, Duarte, Massaro, Padron, Baisley, Martinez 2, Kleen, Kc-Lisson, Howell, Pineda, Kleen, BB-McConnell, Howell, Duarte, Massaro, Baisley, Martinez, Bieker, Pineda
Notes-It was a weird night, a foul ball bounced about six feet from my seat, on the other side of the aisle. It went into the air and landed in LuAnn Klein's lap. It suprised her and every one else as she was ducking out of the way.
Thanks
David Malamut