Some times teams just go into mini slumps, that seems to be what has happend to the Cougars. They lost their second game in a row to the Dayton Dragons. This time it was a 2-1 pitchers duel.

Carlos Fisher started and pitched into the seventh for the Dragons. he gave up all of three hits in his shutout of the Cougars. He walked one and struck out nine.

In the second inning with one out, Jose Pineda reached on a error by the third baseman. Fisher then struck out Jeff Bieker. Raul Padron singled to right. Andre Piper-Jordan then lined out to center to end the inning. In the third inning it was more of the same. With one out, Justin Sellers singled back to Sellers. Frank Martinez then flew one to right, the right fielder droped the ball for an error. Jeff Baisley then grounded one back tot he pitcher for the second out, both runners would move up on the grounder. Fisher then got Steve Kleen to pop out to get out of the inning. The seventh inning was the best shot the Cougars had against Fisher. Pineda led off with a singel to center. One out later, Raul Padron walked. Nick Blasi then came in to pitch run for him. The Dragons then made a pitching change, bringin in Blake Hendley. Hendley struck out Piper-Jordan and got Wilber Perez to ground out to end the inning.

Meanwhile Vince Mazzaro didnt pitch badly either. He would go five innings, just like all of his other starts. He gave up two hits and one run. He walked four and struck out seven. The Dragons got to him in the first inning. Michael Griffin led off with a double to left. Eric Eymann then walked. One out later, Habilito Hernandez singled to center to score Griffin. A wild pitch would move Eymann to third. Mazzaro then got Brandon Szymanski and Bobby Mosby out on strikes to get out of the jam.

He would get into some more trouble the next two innings, he didnt get into a rythem till late in his outing as he would retire the last seven he faced before being lifted because of a pitch count of 85. In the second inning with two outs, Michael DeJesus walked, he would be balked to second by Mazzaro. Mazzaro then got Griffin to strike out to end the inning. In the third inning, Eymann led off with a walk. Mazzaro then did a good job of getting a double play to erase Eymann. Hernandez walked. Szymanski then would get rung up on strikes to end the inning. From that last strike out till the end of the fifth no runners reached base against Mazzaro.

The Dragons then would not hit anything off of Joe Piekarz untill the seventh. Bobby Mosby would hit a leadoff homer to right field to make it a two run lead for Dayton. Two outs later, Michael DeJesus singled to right. Piekarz picked him off of first to get out of the inning.

Kane County's run came in the eighth inning with one out. Frank Martinez singled to center. Jeff Baisley then signled to right centerfield, Martinez went to third. Kleen then grounded out to third, Martinez would score on the play. Pineda would hit one to the wall in center to end the inning. That would've given the Cougars the lead if it had gone out.

Steve Sharpe did a nice job in the ninth, getting two strikeouts, and a fly out. Combined in the game there were 23 strikeouts. 12 by the Cougars and 11 by the Dragons.


Cougars
Name POS AB R H RBI
Justin Sellers SS 4 0 1 0
Frank Martinez 2B 4 1 1 0
Jeff Baisley DH 4 0 1 0
Steve Kleen 1B 4 0 0 1
Jose Pineda CF 4 0 1 0
Jeff Bieker LF 4 0 0 0
Raul Padron C 2 0 1 0
Nick Blasi PR
Anthony Recker C 1 0 0 0
Andre Piper-Jordan RF 4 0 0 0
Wilber Perez 3B 3 0 0 0
Dragons
Name POS AB R H RBI
Michael Griffin 3B 4 1 1 0
Eric Eymann SS 2 0 0 0
Jay Bruce CF 4 0 0 0
Habilito Hernandez 1B 2 0 1 0
B.J. Szymanski RF 3 0 0 0
Bobby Mosby DH 3 1 1 1
Gerardo Cabrera LF 3 0 0 0
Christopher Denove C 3 0 0 0
Michael DeJesus 2B 2 0 1 0





E-Griffin, Szymanski, LOB KC-6, DAY-4, RLISP KC-5, DAY-2, 2B-Griffin, HR-Mosby (Piekarz), PiO=DeJesus, DP-Bruce (Mazzaro)(4-6-3)

Kane County 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 0
Dayton 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 X 2 4 2

Cougars
Name IP H R ER BB SO Decison WP BK HB AB BF GB FB NP S
Vince Mazzaro 5 2 1 1 4 7 L (2-1) 0 1 0 16 20 6 1 85 51
Joe Piekarz 2 2 1 1 0 3 ND 0 0 0 7 7 1 1 19 13
Steve Sharpe 1 0 0 0 0 2 ND 0 0 0 3 3 0 1 29 21

Dragons
Name IP H R ER BB SO Decison WP BK HB AB BF GB FB NP S
Carlos Fisher 6.1 3 0 0 1 9 W (2-1) 0 0 0 24 25 6 4 84 61
Blake Hendley 2.2 2 1 1 0 2 SV (1) 0 0 0 11 11 2 3 37 24

SO-Sellers, Martinez, Baisley, Pineda, Bieker, Padron, Perez, Piper-Jordan 2, Griffin 2, Bruce, Szymanski 2, Cabrera 2, Kc-Kleen 2, Eymann, Bruce, Szymanski, Mosby, Cabrera, BB-Padron, Eymann 2, Hernandez, DeJesus


T-2:26
A-8,729


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Thanks
David Malamut