Kane County Cougars at Cedar Rapids Kernels
Friday, April 12th, 2002
New Memorial Stadium, Cedar Rapids, Iowa


The Cougars ran into a hot pitcher today in Kernels starter Johan Santana. Santana struck out 11 in five and two third innings of work. He gave up three hits, and walked one. At one point from the second till the sixth he retired 13 in a row, striking out eight. He gave up a first inning single to Scott Hicks, then promptly caught him off of first base for the final out of the inning. He ran out of gas in the sixth inning.

In the sixth inning the Cougars loaded the bases with one out and came away empty handed. With one out, Winton Zapey singled to right, the Kernels did not hold him on first so he stole second. William Arroyo then walked. Athony Brewer made it bases loaded when he singled to left. Heath Kelly then struck out. That was the last hitter that Santana would see. The Kernels then brought in John Rouwenhorst to face Hicks. Scott broke his bat, in the process he grounded to first base to end the inning.

The Cougars had Phil Akens make his second start of the season. He went six inning, giving up five hits and three runs. Phil walked one and struck out six. After the third inning, that is the inning that he would give up his last run. After that inning, he settled down and retired the next eight hitters till he was removed from the game after the sixth inning.

In the second inning, after the Kernels scored their run, with a man on third. Tommy Murphy walked. Ed Welch then bunted down the third base line. The ball was for some reason picked up just before it was going to go foul. This loaded the bases. Phil Akens then beared down and struck out Justin Turner. Ransel Melgarejo then poped up to second. Jeff Mathis who had homerd the inning before, then struck out to end the inning.

The scoring started in the first inning for the Kernels when, Jeff Mathis extended his seven game hitting streak with a home run to right field. After the homer Akens struck out the next two hitters to end the inning.

The Kernels added another run in the second when Mike Napoli lead things off with a double to right. Greg Porter followed with a single to left. On the play left fielder Hunter Wyant overan the ball, which allowed Napoli to score.

Adding one more run in the fourth the Kernels took a commanding three to nothing lead. With one out Tommy Murphy doubled to right. Ed Welch then grounded out to second. On the play Murphy was running and made it all the way around to score.

Tyler Banks came on for the Cougars in the seventh and struck out the first hitter he faced. Ed Welch then bunted for a single, the ball made it just back to the pitcher and he beat the throw., Welch would then steal second, and advance to third on a wild pitch. One out later, Ransel Melgarejo then doubled to left to score Welch.

The Cougars did make a run at the Kernels in the ninth when, Heath Kelly laid down a perfect bunt to third for an infield single. Scott Hicks then singled to right to get Kelly over to third. Jason Stokes then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Kelly.


Cougars
Name POS AB R H RBI
Anthony Brewer CF 4 0 1 0
Heath Kelly SS 4 1 1 0
Scott Hicks DH 4 0 2 0
Jason Stokes 1B 3 0 0 1
Charlie Frazier RF 4 0 1 0
Hunter Wyant LF 4 0 0 0
Michael Tucker 3B 3 0 0 0
Winton Zapay C 3 0 2 0
William Arroyo 2B 2 0 0 0
Kernels
Name POS AB R H RBI
Ransel Melgaejo CF 4 0 1 1
Jeff Mathis C 4 1 1 1
Casey Kotchman 1B 4 0 0 0
Dallas McPherson 3B 4 0 1 0
Mike Napoli DH 4 1 1 0
Greg Porter RF 3 0 1 1
Tommy Murphy SS 3 1 1 0
Ed Welch LF 3 1 2 1
Justin Turner 2B 3 0 0 0
LOB-Cougars-5, Kernels-6, LOB-Cougars-2, Kernels-4, 2B-Melgarejo, Napoli, Murphy, HR-Mathis (Akens), RBI-Stokes, Melgarejo, Mathis, Porter, Welch, SACF-Stokes, SB-Zapay, Welch, CS-Hicks, Frazier
Kane County 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 7 0
Cedar Rapids 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 X 4 8 0
Cougars
Name IP H R ER BB SO Decison WP BK HB AB BF GB FB
Phil Akens 6 5 3 3 1 6 L (0-1) 0 0 0 23 23 5 7
Tyler Banks 2 3 1 1 0 1 ND 1 0 1 9 10 3 2
Kernels
Name IP H R ER BB SO Decison WP BK HB AB BF GB FB NP
Johan Santana 5.2 3 0 0 1 11 W (2-0) 0 0 0 19 20 3 1 98
John Rouwenhorst 2.1 2 0 0 0 3 ND 0 0 0 8 8 2 1
Adam Thomas 1 2 1 1 0 1 ND 0 0 0 4 5 1 1
WP-Banks, HB-Porter (Banks), SO-Brewer 3, Kelly 3, Stokes 3, Frazier 3, Tucker, Arroyo 2, Mathis, Kotchman, McPherson, Napoli, Murphy, Turner 2, BB-Arroyo, Murphy
T-2:20
A-2,638
H-(3,825)(1), A-(7,148)(6), T-(10,973)(7)
A-2638
T-2:20


See You All Tomorrow When The Cougars Come Home To Play The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers For A 4 p.m. Game Time At The Elf!!

The Cougars made a roster move before the game. Kris Clute was put on the disabled list, with a sore neck/shoulder. Heath Kelly was brought in on a rehab assignment. He is wearing the number 41.



Alumni Report

Atlanta 2 Florida 0

Josh Beckett, 6 ip, 5 h, 2 r, 2 er, 3 bb, 5 k, L, 0-2, K
Kevin Olsen, 1.1 ip, 2 h, 0 r, 0 er, 1 bb, 1 k
Gary Knotts, 1 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 1 bb, 0 k
HR-Chipper Jones (Beckett) 1 st Inning, 1 On


This Day In Kane County History

4/12/91, In the 1st Cougars game ever, they defeat the South Bend White Sox, 8-0 at South Bend

92-Future NFL Pro Bowl Deffensive Back, John Lynch is the winning pitcher in his last game with the Cougars before leaving to play pro footbal with the Tampa Bay Bucs

94-Dan Ehler tosses 6 ip, 1 h, and Kevin Millar hits a homer as the Cougars beat Fort Wayne 3-2

98-Pablo Ozuna (Peoria), went 3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 2 R, K


Birthdays

Billy Owens, 1B (92) 31



Remember to vote for who you think will be the Cougars 2002 MVP on my website at members.core.com/~malshere, the poll will close on the 15th, when the new poll for April Player Of The Month will be posted.

Thank You