SIOUX CITY UNABLE TO FINISH OFF SWEEP
Cougars Take Down X’s in Road Trip Finale
Geneva, IL (June 17, 2021) – The Sioux City Explorers dropped the series and road trip finale on Thursday night to the Kane County Cougars by a score of 5-1.
Kane County struck early as Kacy Clemens clobbered a two run home run in the bottom of the first to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. And a Nick Zamarelli solo home run in the second gave the Cougars a 3-0 advantage.
The X’s battled back for a run in the third as Joseph Monge reached second on a one out bloop double. He came around to score on a two out single from LT Tolbert.
That was all the offense the Explorers could muster up however as Cougars starter Tyler Viza (1-0) earned the win for Kane County going 5.1 innings, allowing just a run on three hits while striking out five and not walking anyone.
On the other end for the X’s, rookie Joe Riley (0-1) was making just his second start of his career and went 6.2 innings strong. He pitched well for the Explorers as at one point he retired ten straight Cougars in the contest. However he took the loss as he surrendered six hits and five runs while striking out four and walking two.
Two runs scored against Riley came in the seventh as Kane County’s Anfernee Seymour doubled with two outs in the seventh off of X’s reliever Danny Hrbek to score the two runs that counted against Riley and gave the game it’s final score of 5-1.
Sioux City now returns home after the seven game road trip for a three game weekend series with the Lincoln Saltdogs starting on Friday night with first pitch set for 7:05 pm.