RED HOT COUGARS EDGE OUT RAILROADERS
CLEBURNE, TEXAS (August 11, 2022) – Kane County continues to just find ways to win ball games as they took the third game of the six-game set from The Depot at Cleburne Station. The Cougars were able to capitalize on pretty much every scoring opportunity as they beat the Railroaders 7-5.
The Cougars started the scoring in the top of the second when Alexis Pantoja ripped a double over the head of Hill Alexander that brought home Ernie De La Trinidad and Nick Franklin to make it 2-0.
Flash forward to the bottom of the second when Hunter Wolfe launched his fifth home run of the year that evened the score up at two after he and Wyatt Mathisen trotted home after the long ball. Chuck Taylor hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Mathisen.
It wasn’t long until Kane County took back the advantage. Two more runs came around for the Cougars in the top of the fifth, awarding them a 4-3 lead.
Cleburne found ways to score in obscure ways in the bottom half of the frame. Zach Nehrir hit a lead-off double and then preceded to steal third base. Ben Allison balked which allowed Nehrir to trot home for free to tie the game up at four. The Railroaders took the lead in that same inning after Chase Simpson doubled and then scored on an error by Cougars’ third baseman Alexis Pantoja. After five, it was 5-4 in favor of the Railroaders.
Unfortunately for Cleburne, Kane County bounced back from their rough fifth inning and clawed their way back into the game. Zac Reininger came in for his first appearance as a Railroader and gave up two runs. Kane County added some insurance in the top of the seventh off Kevin McCarthy when Jimmy Kerrigan scored on a Luke Mangieri sacrifice fly to make it 7-5.
That score held all the way until the ninth when Ryan Tapani shut it down and won the game for the Cougars while also picking up his second save of the season.
Kane County has now won seven games in a row and just sits four and a half games behind the division-leading Chicago Dogs.
For Cleburne, the loss draws them farther from Gary SouthShore. The RailCats currently hold a game and a half lead on the Railroaders for fourth place in the East Division.
The series continues tomorrow with game four of the Railroaders’ six-game series versus the Cougars at 7:06 p.m. on aabaseball.tv and on the Railroader Radio Network