By Ryan Zimmerman, Gary SouthShore RailCats

Geneva, IL – Alec Olund put every aspect of his talent on display on a rainy Wednesday afternoon at Northwestern Medicine Field as the Gary SouthShore RailCats shut out the Kane County Cougars 4-0. 

The Crown Point, IN native sparked the Gary SouthShore offense and made a couple of run-saving plays in right field to spoil Kane County’s School Day Game celebration. 

Olund started putting his fingerprints all over the game in the very first inning as his team faced an early predicament. A Steve Lombardozzi single with a runner on second base looked like it give the Cougars a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Olund uncorked a perfect throw to nab baserunner Ernie De La Trinidad at home plate and keep them off the scoreboard. 

A few innings later, Olund made another impactful play, this time with his bat. Javeyan Williams led off the top of the fourth inning by tripling off the right field wall before Daniel Lingua walked and stole second. When Olund came up to bat with one out, he worked a full count before crushing the payoff pitch over the left field wall to put the RailCats ahead 3-0. 

On the mound, starting pitcher Adam Heidenfelder held down the fort and cruised through the Cougar lineup. In his five innings of work, he did not allow a run while giving up just three hits, striking out seven in the process. Heidenfelder’s dominant effort resulted in his first win in 2022. 

In the sixth inning, Olund went right back to work on offense. Lingua reached on an error and Michael Cruz walked to open the frame, and Olund roped a single into right field to score the leadoff man and increase the Gary SouthShore advantage to four. 

Upon entering in relief in the bottom half of the inning, Chris Erwin picked up where Heidenfelder left off. He tossed four impressive innings of scoreless baseball. He permitted just two baserunners, a walk and a base hit in the eighth, punching out four to close out the game and pick up the save.  

The two teams square off once more tomorrow for the final time at Northwestern Medicine Field this season at 6:30 p.m. Ryan Zimmerman and Tony Pasquesi have the play-by-play call on aabaseball.tv and the Gary SouthShore RailCats Broadcast Network on Mixlr.