Geneva, Ill — After a day off Tuesday, the Lake Country DockHounds were swept in Wednesday’s double header by the Kane County Cougars.
Mike Shawryn started the first contest and was excellent for Lake Country. He did not allow a hit in 6 innings of work. However, two walks in the fourth inning and a wild pitch allowed the only run of the game to score, and the DockHounds lost despite the no-hit effort, 1-0.
In game two, the DockHounds fell behind immediately after stranding Nick Banks in the top of the first after his leadoff double. The Cougars tacked on two runs in the bottom of the inning against Connor Fisk, but those were the only two earned runs he allowed.
Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Blake Tiberi and Marcus Chiu both reached on hits en route to Lake Country’s first run of the ballgame.
Matt Mullenbach pitched a 1-2-3 fifth in response, but then allowed a run in the sixth inning, making the deficit three runs once again.
Keith Rogalla, who recorded the save on Monday, entered for the seventh inning, looking for his second save of the series. He walked Tiberi and Chiu to begin the inning, which brought the tying run to the plate.
Pat DeMarco, in arguably the most dramatic moment of the season, cranked a game-tying three-run home run to left field and extended the game to the bottom half of the seventh.
Jojanse Torres entered, and walked the first two batters of the inning. He then responded by striking out Armond Upshaw and inducing a flair to shallow right field off the bat of Jonah Davis.
Banks charged hard and slid to make the catch, but the ball crept out from his glove when it hit the ground. His throw from right went past Jaxx Groshans at catcher, spelling disaster, but Torres was there. Galli Cribbs Jr., the winning run, got too far off from third and drew a throw back from Torres. His throw was low and bounced away from Tiberi, allowing Cribbs Jr. to score and win the game for Kane County, 5-4.
The loss drops the series to the Cougars with the series finale still to commence on Thursday. First pitch will be at 6:30 CT.
