In his debut with the Gary SouthShore RailCats (38-56), Aaron Phillips dominated the Kane County Cougars (42-51) with seven innings of scoreless baseball, allowing just three hits en route to a 1-0 win, the first shutout of the year for the RailCats.
The win marks the ‘Cats fifth straight victory, a season-high for Gary SouthShore as Phillips joins the RailCats as a former San Francisco Giants prospect and the highest draft pick in St. Bonaventure history.
The second pitch of the game, leadoff hitter Michael Woodworth delivered a two-bagger and on the next pitch, Billy Cooke drove him home with back-to-back doubles to take a 1-0 lead, all Phillips would need to complete his debut victory.
Woodworth and Cooke each recorded two hits apiece in the game one win.
Kane County had their best chance of the night with the bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh inning, but Phillips would retire the next three batters he would face to close out his seventh and final inning of work while leaving three stranded and clinging to the 1-0 lead.
Cougars’ starter Josh Tols suffered the loss with six innings, five hits, one run, and four strikeouts.
To close things out, Tasker Strobel shut the door as he faced three and retired three for his team-high eighth save of the season.
Game two between the Gary SouthShore RailCats and the Kane County Cougars is scheduled for tomorrow, August 31 at 6:30 p.m. at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva, Illinois.