5/1, Cougars 8, Cedar Rapids 11

Well, what a diffrence between todays game and last nights game. Last night the Cougars were no hit by the Kernels. Today there were a combined 19 runs and 20 hits, with three Cougar errors. The Cougars would lose 11-8, and are now 1-4 against the Kernels on the year. The funny thing is the Cougars scored four times in the first, and then four times in the ninth and that is it.

The Cougars offense came alive int he first inning with those four runs. Connor Crumbliss led off the game with a double to center. One out later, he would move to third on a wild pitch, as Rashun Dixon walked. Anthony Aliotti singled to right to score Crumbliss. Leonardo Gil then hit a three run homer to right field.

Dan Straily did not have a good day against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. He lasted into the third inning, giving up nine runs on seven hits. He walked three and struck out one. He also gave up two homers and hit a batter. In the first inning he was spotted four runs by the offense, then gave them right back in the bottom of the inning. Mike Trout led off by being hit by a pitch. Ivan Contreras walked. Two outs later, Luis Jimenez singled to left to score Trout. Randal Grichuk then hit a three run homer to left.

Two more runs for the Kernels in the second inning. Eric Oliver led off with a double to right. Adam Younger would reach on a fielder's choice, with Oliver being out at second. Mike Trout then reached on a force out of Younger at second. He would then steal second. Contreras doubled to center to score Trout. Jean Segura would then double to center to score Contreras.

It got even worse for the Cougars in the third inning as the Kernels would score three more times against Straily. With two outs, Jose Jimenez walked. Oliver then singled to right. Adam Younger would hit a three run homer to left to put the Kernels up 9-4 after three innings.

The saving grace for the Cougars was the pitching of Connor Hoehn. He came in to relieve Straily in the third and pitched three and one thirds innings. He gave up one hit and struck out three. The one hit was a one out triple to Trout in the sixth. A strike out and a ground out later, Trout would still be at third.

Hector Garcia didn't have as good of a day. He would come in to replace Hoehn in the seventh. He would go two innings, giving up three hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out five. His only problem was the seventh, the eighth he pitched perfectly. With one out in the seventh, Luis Jimenez doubled to left. Grichuk would then single to center to score Jimenez. A passed ball on catcher Juan Nunez and a wild pitch on Garcia would put Grichuk at third. Jose Jimenez then reached on an error by first baseman Anthony Aliotti. Grichuk would score ont he play and Jimenez got to second. Eric Oliver then singled to center, Jimenez went to third and Oliver would make second on a throwing error by centerfielder Myrio Richard. After that Garcia would be able to strike out Younger for the second out. He walked Trout, which loaded the bases. Ivan Contreras would strike out looking to let Garcia off of the hook.

The other big inning for the Cougars came in the ninth inning when they made a game out of it. Aliotti led off with a double to center. Leonardo Gil then walked, a wild pitch by Kernel reliever Buddy Boshers would move both runners into scoring position. Franklin Hernandez followed with a double to right to score Aliotti. Juan Nunez then singled to center to score Gil. Chris Affinito hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Hernandez. Mike Gilmartin then singled to right adn Crumbliss walked to reload the bases. Cedar Rapids then made a pitching change bringin in Johnny Hellweg. Richard would hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Nunez. Dixon then walked to load the bases, but Hellweg ended the game with a groundout by Aliotti.


Next Game
5/2 @ Cedar Rapids, 2pm
Chris Mederos (2-1, 1.50) vs Orangel Arenas (0-4, 3.57)