Through the first four innings of the ballgame, the Gary SouthShore RailCats looked like they had things under control. However, 10 runs in their final five turns at-bat delivered the Kane County Cougars a 10-4 victory on a Wednesday afternoon at The Steel Yard.
In the early goings, the RailCats jumped all over former Major Leaguer Vance Worley to take an early lead. Zach Welz blasted a leadoff home run to get them on the board, and following singles from Michael Woodworth and Daniel Lingua, a Michael Cruz groundout plated a second tally.
Two innings later, Gary SouthShore struck again to increase their advantage. Woodworth led off with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. Jesus Marriaga then stepped up to the plate and grooved a single to left field to score Woodworth and put the ‘Cats ahead 3-0.
From that point forward, the Cougars took over. They sent 10 to the plate in the fifth inning, scoring six, to turn a 3-0 deficit into a 6-3 lead.
Kane County added another pair in the sixth inning, stringing their newfound advantage up to five runs.
As they faced a sizable deficit, the RailCats refused to go away. Woodworth walked to begin the bottom of the seventh and immediately advanced two bases on wild pitches. Two batters later, Cruz lifted a fly ball to left field to score him on a sacrifice fly, lowering Kane County’s edge to four.
Despite the ‘Cats pulling one run back, the Cougars remained locked in at the dish. A run apiece in the eighth and ninth innings capped off the scoring and put the finishing touches on their win.
The two teams take to the field one last time at The Steel Yard tomorrow at 6:45 p.m. to close out this three-game series. All the action will be streamed on www.aabaseball.tv, 95.9 WEFM, and the Gary SouthShore RailCats Broadcast Network through the Mixlr app.
