On a Slugfest Sunday, Peoria Avoids Cougars Sweep with 11-8 Win

In a slugfest, the Cougars would lose to the Peoria Chiefs 11-8 in the finale of the series.

Peoria avoided a sweep at the hands of the Cougars with the win. In all, there were 20 runs and 28 hits, plus two errors in the game. The Chiefs offense was just too much for the Cougars to handle Sunday. Greg Rohan, Smaily Borges and Anthony Giansanti all had four hits apiece.

The Cougars really didn't help themselves that much, either, as they had five wild pitches, a balk and two homeruns. Kane County's offense was there, they did get eight runs on 10 hits. Steve Caseres had three hits and drove in two runs. Murray Watts and Angel Franco both had two hits.

The Royals' 12th-ranked prospect made his Cougars debut today. Well he is 19 years old, and this was his first start above rookie ball. Yordano Ventura would go three innings, giving up seven hits and four runs. He was wild, with three wild pitches and one walk.

Peoria did get on the board first in the game with two first inning runs off of Ventura. With two outs, Greg Rohan singled to short, two wild pitches later he would be on third. Richard Jones then took Ventura deep to left for a two run homer. Kane County answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning off of the Cubs No. 1 pick last year, Hayden Simpson.

Angel Franco greated him with a double down the right field line. Two outs later, Caseres singled to right to score Franco. The Chiefs just kept adding on, with one run in the second and the third innings.

In the second with two outs, Smaily Borges doubled to right. Giansanti then doubled to right to score Borges. In the third, Rubi Silva led off the inning with a single to short. Rohan singled to left, and both runners moved up a base with a wild pitch. Jones then grounded out to score Silva. Lane Adams led off a four run fourth inning for the Cougars with a walk. Watts followed that up with a two run homer to right. One out later, Travis Jones reached on a throwing error by the shortstop. Yowill Espinal walked. Franco would reach on a force of Espinal at second. Gerard Hall then doubled to left to score both Jones and Franco.

Unfortunatly the Chiefs would come back with four runs of their own in the sixth inning. Arismendy Alcantara led it off by reaching on a fielding error on Caseres. Borges singled to center. Giansanti then singled to center to bring home Alcantara. Borges would score on a balk on Cougars reliever Jon Keck. Keck had just come into the game after the single by Borges in relief of Matt Mitchell.

Pierre LePage followed with a bunt to move the runners both into scoring position. Silva then singled to left to score Giansanti. Rohan doubled home Silva. Two more runs for the Chiefs in the seventh to make the score 10-5. Sergio Burruel led off the inning with a walk then went to second on a wild pitch. One groundout later, Borges hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Burruel. Giansanti then hit a solo homer to left. The Chiefs last run came in the eighth inning off of Chas Byrne. With one out, Rohan doubled to right. Jones then doubled to right to drive home Roha

The Cougars didn't just roll over in this one; they did score three runs in the bottom of the ninth to make it a three run game. With one out, Franco doubled to left. One out later, Alex Llanos singled to center to score Franco. Caseres followed with a double to right to score Llanos. Adams then tripled to right to score Caseres. The game would end on a Watts strike out looking.

Next Game: Tuesday, May 17th, @ Cedar Rapids, 6:35 p.m.