In game two of the four-game series between the Gary SouthShore RailCats (3-5) and the Kane County Cougars (6-2), the visiting Cougars pulled ahead early and never looked back with a 5-1 victory.
Kane County’s starter Josh Tols went six innings on the mound, striking out four while allowing just four hits. In the opposing dugout, RailCats’ starter Gregori Vasquez suffered the loss after a three-inning outing with four strikeouts and one conceded run.
The Cougars took an early lead on an RBI single from Mark Karoviotis in the second frame, and then in the fifth, back-to-back doubles, followed by a Josh Allen single, plated two more.
In the seventh inning, Mitch Reeves drove in two more on a two-out, two-RBI single. Reeves, who came into the series with the fifth best batting average in the American Association, recorded his first hit of the series at the perfect time.
Nikola Vasic, who went 2-for-5 with a pair of singles, scored the sole run of the evening for the RailCats. After a leadoff single in the eighth, Vasic advanced to third on a double from Raymond Jones, his third hit of the night. Jones’ 3-for-4 night is the first three-hit effort of the season for the RailCats clean-up man. Vaibhav Desai drove in Vasic as the score hit 5-1 and remained stiff the rest of the way.
Three ‘Cats recorded multi-hit games, including Vasic, Jones and Jesus Marriaga, who went 2-for-4 on the night with a pair of singles.
Game three of the four-game set gets underway tomorrow evening at 7:10 p.m. as the visiting Cougars look to definitively take the series against the RailCats.