by Ryan Zimmerman, Gary SouthShore RailCats

Gary, IN – The Gary SouthShore RailCats were powerless against a potent Kane County Cougars offensive attack as they stormed away to a 16-6 victory. 

Though the Cougars led the game throughout, the RailCats managed to hang around in the early stages.  After falling behind by two after the top of the first, Michael Woodworth answered back as his leadoff home run brought the Kane County lead down to 2-1. 

The Cougars were quick to respond with a three-run home run in the top of the second, but the RailCats for four two-out runs to tie the score in the bottom of the inning.  Following a Sam Abbott walk and singles from Woodworth and Thomas Greely, Daniel Lingua‘s base hit brought home two before he and Woodworth pulled off a delayed steal of home to plate one more.  The next batter, LG Castillo, banged a double off the right field wall to chase Lingua home, and the RailCats found themselves on level footing at 5-5. 

However, the Cougars immediately fired themselves back in front with two tallies in the third, and they added on in the fourth by putting up a four-run rally to go up 11-5.  

Not to be deterred, Lester Madden cut into the Kane County advantage in the bottom of the fourth.  He made his first hit at The Steel Yard count as he launched a solo home run over the left field wall, lowering the RailCat deficit to five. 

At that point, the Cougars began to pull away.  Two runs each in the sixth and eighth innings along with one in the seventh extended their edge to double-digits, and five straight scoreless innings from four different pitchers shut the RailCats offense down to secure the win. 

The RailCats head back to The Steel Yard tomorrow at 6:45 p.m. as they look to even their series against the Cougars.  All the action can be found on aabaseball.tv, 95.9 WEFM, and the Gary SouthShore RailCats Broadcast Network through the Mixlr app. 

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