(Geneva, IL) The first half for the Gary SouthShore RailCats and the Kane County Cougars wrapped up at Northwestern Medicine Field for a rubber match. The ‘Cats won game one, but Kane County’s pitching stepped up in the middle matchup. Tai Tiedemann was making the start against Jack Fox in an afternoon matchup. 

The RailCats jumped on the Cougars in the top of the third inning with a solo home run from Miguel Sierra, his sixth of the year. With runners at first and third, Gary SouthShore ran the double steal, Howard Rodriguez beat out the return throw from Ernny Ordonez and stole home. RailCats led 2-0.  

The next inning, LG Castillo hit a leadoff double and two batters later, Jose Contreras joined in and belted a ball over the wall for a two-run shot. Claudio Finol plated the first run for Kane County in the bottom of the fourth, changing the score 4-1. 

Kane County woke up the bats in the home half of the fifth. With two runners in scoring position, Ordonez drove in two runs on a double to chip away at the RailCats lead. After a two out walk to Armond Upshaw, Finol drove in two more with a double of his own. Todd Lott capped off the inning with a single into center. Cougars led 6-4. 

Kane County tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth with a sacrifice fly, Ordonez adding his third RBI of the game. Olivier Basabe attempted to begin the rally for the RailCats with a long automatic double, trading places with Gio Diaz.  

A three-run bottom of the third put the game out of reach for the RailCats. Lott doubled in another run, and a wild pitch set the table for Kane County as Galli Cribbs Jr to hit a sacrifice fly to put the score at 10-5. 

Jose Contreras lifted his second home run of the game and his third and the three games in the series against the Cougars. The two home runs moved Contreras to eight home runs but simply wasn’t enough as the RailCats lost the series 10-6.  

The RailCats starter, Tai Tiedemann was giving the loss after giving up six earned runs in 4.2 innings to move his record to 3-6. With the first half ending, the RailCats will go into the all-star break at 24-41. The RailCats are back in action on Thursday at 6:45 at the US Steel Yard against the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks.