Burlington Bees at Kane County Cougars
Friday, May 10th, 2002
Phillip B. Elfstrom Stadium, Geneva, Illinios


Some games just never end, then there are the ones that you wish would end. This game was some where in the middle. There were so many errors and missed chances that you just had to know that sometime one of the teams would finally cash in on their chance to win the game. At least that is what you kept telling yourself.

The big star of the game was from Burlington. Ruben Gotay went 4 for 4. He hit two, two run homers. The final one basically put the game away. He came up to the plate seven times, and reached base seven times. He walked three times, and would score two runs. Gotay also had a single in the first and a double in the eighth. In all he drove in four out of the five runs the Bees would score.

The Bees bullpen did a nice job of stopping the Cougars offense. In eight innings of work combined they gave up four hits and two runs. Plus striking out 8. Jorge Vasquez gave up the two runs, and struck out five.

Phil Akens started and had his third straight bad outing. In this one though he showed a little more poise. He got out of some trouble without giving up all that many runs. In all he gave up three runs in seven innings of work. The big shot was a two run homer in the third by Gotay.

Akens got into some trouble right off the bat. In the first inning he walked Jamie Shanks. Brett Groves grounded into a double play. Ruben Gotay then singled to right. Chris Fallon singled to right. Akens struck out Jonathan Guzman to end the inning.

in the fifth inning things could've gotten out of hand for Akens. After one run had already scored, and John Draper was on first with a single. Jamie Shanks struck out. Brett Groves hit into a fielder's choice with Shanks being out at second. Ruben Gotay walked. Chris Fallon then lined out to left to end the inning.

Tim Schilling did a great job in relief. He went five innings and gave up four hits and no runs. He walked four and struck out two. Tim walked the leadoff man in two of those innings, but escaped without any damage.

The Cougars did have a chance to win the game. In the 12th inning with two outs, Anthony Brewer lined a triple to center. Scott Hicks then hit a ball at about shoulder/eye level into short right to end the inning.


The scoring started in the third for the Bees when with one out Brett Groves singled to left. Ruben Gotay then hit a homer to right. The ball landed between the bleachers and the right field deck.

The Bees would add another run in the fifth when Anibal Figuero doubled to left. John Draper then singled to left to score Figuero.

The Cougars would claw their way back in the sixth when, with two outs Jason Stokes walked. Heath Kelly singled to center. Michael Tucker walked to load the bases. The Bees pitcher Kahi then walked George Arnott to score Stokes. Dennis Anderson singled to left to score Kelly. Burlington then made a pitching change. Rex Rundgren struck out.

In the ninth the Cougars would tie the ballgame. Dennis Anderson hit a solo homer to lead off the inning.

That is the way the scoring would stay for the next four innings, and about an hour. In the 14th inning with one out, Brett Groves walked. Ruben Gotay then hit a homer onto the right field deck. The rail just in front of the deck, then bounced back into play.

Bees
Name POS AB R H RBI
James Shanks CF 5 0 1 0
Brett Groves SS 6 2 1 0
Ruben Gotay 2B 4 2 3 4
Chris Fallen DH 5 0 2 0
Jonathan Guzman RF 5 0 0 0
Ben Cordova LF 7 0 1 0
Galindo Gomez 3B 7 0 1 0
Anibal Figueroa 1B 3 1 1 0
Matt Cleveland PH 1 0 1 0
Jamie Eppender P
Odannis Ayala PH 2 0 1 0
Hector Rosario P 1 0 0 0
John Draper C 6 0 2 0
Cougars
Name POS AB R H RBI
Charlie Frazier RF 6 0 2 0
Anthony Brewer CF 7 0 1 0
Scott Hicks LF 6 0 1 0
Jason Stokes 1B 5 1 1 0
Heath Kelly 2B 6 1 2 0
Michael Tucker 3B 5 0 0 0
George Arnott DH 5 0 0 1
Dennis Anderson C 6 1 2 2
Rex Rundgren SS 6 0 1 0






E-Gotay, LOB-Bees-14, Cougars-9, RLSIP-Bees-9, Cougars-5, 2B-Gotay, Figueroa, Rundgren, 3B-Brewer, HR-Gotay (Akens) (DeJesus), Anderson (Vasquez), RBI-Gotay 4, Arnott, Anderson 2, SACB-Fallon 2, SB-Gomez, CS-Frazier, DP-Groves (Akens)(6-4-3), Cordova (Akens)(4-6-3)
Burlington 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 14 1
Kane County 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 10 0
Bees
Name IP H R ER BB SO Decison WP BK HB AB BF GB FB
Kahi Kaanoi 5.2+5 6 2 2 3 2 ND 0 0 0 23 26 9 3
Jorge Vasquez 2.1 2 1 1 0 5 ND 0 0 0 10 10 2 1
Jamie Eppender 1.2 0 0 0 0 0 ND 0 0 0 5 5 3 2
Hector Rosario 3 2 0 0 0 1 W 0 0 0 11 11 2 6
Paul Sanchez 1 0 0 0 0 2 SV 0 0 1 3 4 0 1
Cougars
Name IP H R ER BB SO Decison WP BK HB AB BF GB FB
Phil Akens 7 7 3 3 2 3 ND 0 0 0 27 29 5 11
Tim Schilling 5 4 0 0 4 2 ND 1 0 0 16 22 5 7
Elvis DeJesus 2 3 2 2 1 4 L 2 0 0 8 10 1 0
HB-Frazier (Sanchez), WP-DeJesus 2, SO-Shanks 2, Groves, Guzman 2, Cordova, Gomez 2, Rosario, Draper, Frazier, Brewer, Stokes 2, Kelly, Tucker, Rundgren 3, BB-Shanks 2, Groves, Gotay 3, Guzman 2, Stokes, Tucker, Arnott
A-7358
H-(60,852)(13), A-(49,313)(19), T-(110,165)(31)


Notes-I want to say good luck to the little kid that was struck in the head by a flying broken bat, the kid was sitting near, 113, K, 6. He was givin some stitches at the scene then was medivaxed to the hospital via hillicopter with there parents.


Alumni Report
Florida 4, Los Angles 3
A.J. Burnett, 8 ip, 5 h, 2 r, 2 er, 4 bb, 10 k

Portland 9, Erie 7
Joe Sergent, 5 ip, 10 h, 6 r, 6 er, 1 bb, 3 k, HBP
Brandon Sloan, 2 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 2 bb, 3 k, W
HR-C. Carter, J.Meran (Sergent)
Jesus Medrano-2B, 4-6, 2B, 3B, 2 BRI, R, SB, K
Adrian Gonzalez-1B, 0-4, 2 BB, K
Matt Treanor-C, 2-2, 2 HR (C.Smith, F.Perez) 2 RBI, 2 R, 3 BB
Matt Padgett-RF, 1-4, RBI, BB, 3 K
Chris Aguila-LF, 2-5, 2B, 2 R, 2 K
Drew Niles-3B, 1-4, 3B, 2 R, RBI, BB, 2 K

Brevard County 2, Jupiter 0
Randy Messenger, 8 ip, 7 h, 2 r, 2 er, 0 bb, 2 k, L, HB
Ryan Harber, 1 ip, 0 h, 0 r, 0 er, 0 bb, 2 k
Chip Ambres-CF, 0-4
Will Smith-LF, 0-3, BB
Josh Willingham-DH, 0-4, K
Pat Magness-1B, 1-3, BB
Miguel Cabrera-3B, 0-4
Jim Kavourias-RF, 1-3, K
Josh Wilson-SS, 1-2, BB
Matt DeMarco-2B, 0-2, K



Alumni News
Blaine Neal was sent back to Calgary


This Day In Cougars History
5/10/93, After falling behind 5-0 after only 2 innings, the Cougars bullpen holds Fort Wayne scoreless the rest of the way as Kane County comes back to defeat the Wizards 6-5 in 11 innings.

5/10/94, Felix Heredia works the final 2.1 ip, 0 r, 1 h, while earning the save in the Cougars 4-3 win over Peoria


Remember to vote for whom you think should've been the player and the pitcher of the month for April on my website at members.core.com/~malshere. The poll for player and pitcher of the month for May will be up on Sunday.


Thanks
David Malamut