History is on hold for the Kane County Cougars.
The Cougars’ bid to win their first Midwest League title must wait until a deciding Game 5 after the Lansing Lugnuts tied the series at two games apiece with a convincing 6-0 victory Wednesday night at Elfstrom Stadium in Geneva.
The Cougars will play host for the fifth and final game at 6 p.m. Thursday. They’ll send Tim McClaskey to the mound.
Lansing jumped on Cougars starter Bobby Rodgers early, banging out four hits for a pair of runs in the first. He also allowed a two-run homer in the fourth and was knocked out after another run in that inning. Rodgers was tagged for five runs on nine hits over 3 2/3 innings. He threw 70 pitches–31 in the first.
The Cougars had only six baserunners, and none advanced beyond second base.
“It would have been nice if the bats would have picked up our pitching staff tonight,” said Cougars manager Lynn Jones. “But (Lansing) did a good job keeping us off-balance with the off-speed pitch.”
Lansing’s starter, left-hander Jason Gooding, threw eight shutout innings of five-hit ball, striking out nine while walking none. Gooding was making just his third start in the Midwest League. Orber Moreno pitched a scoreless ninth.
