Explorers defeat Cougars 4-3 in ten-inning thriller
GENEVA, Ill. (Courtesy of the Sioux City Explorers) – The first extra-inning game of the season saw a Sioux City Explorers (2-0) victory over the reigning American Association champion Kane County Cougars (0-2) in a close 4-3 win. Austin Drury got the start for the X's and tossed seven scoreless frames, but the bullpens decided the contest.
It was a quiet first couple of innings at Northwestern Medicine Field. Austin Davis doubled in the first inning, but he was stranded at third base after Kurtis Byrne grounded out.
Trendon Craig led off with a single for Kane County, but Drury retired the next three batters in order. Drury and Cougar starter Tommy Sommer (0-0) faced the minimum through the next few innings, but the bats got going in the fourth for the X's.
With Davis at third and Luis Toribio at second with one out in the top of the fourth, Abdiel Layer rolled over on a ground ball to Galli Cribbs Jr. at short. He fielded the ball cleanly, but his throw sailed on first baseman Todd Lott, and both Davis and Toribio scored to give Sioux City a 2-0 lead.
The next batter, Dario Gomez, smoked a single to center, pushing Layer across, bringing the lead up to three runs. Nick Shumpert struck out to end the inning. Sommer would go 5.1 for Kane County and yield only one earned run.
Drury, who finished with 99 pitches and struck out five across seven scoreless frames, exited the game after seven innings, and manager Steve Montgomery brought in Ben Madison to keep the 3-0 lead intact. The Arkansas-native punched out Nick Dalesandro, but walked the next two batters, and Montgomery went back to his bullpen with the tying run at the plate.
Dominican right-hander Peniel Otaño, who relieved Madison, came in with runners at the corners, only one out, and the top of the order due up. With the adrenaline flowing, the former Arizona Diamondbacks farmhand struck out one hitter, Trendon Craig, and two hitters flew out to center for out number three, keeping the lead at 3-0 for Sioux City.
Otaño returned to pitch the ninth inning but immediately ran into trouble. Thomas Jones singled, and Todd Lott walked. After the first mound visit of the season from X's pitching coach, Bobby Post, Josh Allen strolled to the plate to represent the tying run.
Allen singled home Jones, cutting it to 3-1 while putting the tying run at first base. Claudio Finol was next at the dish, representing the winning run, still with no outs, and grounded back to the mound, but both runners advanced, placing the tying run in scoring position.
Otaño continued to battle on the mound and forced Nick Dalesandro to ground out, bringing home Lott to make it a one-run game. Oscar Santos came to the plate as the last hope for the Cougars and smacked a 0-1 pitch into right field to tie the game at three.
Steve Montgomery once again turned to his bullpen, hoping to find an arm that could shut down Kane County's late-arriving bats. His finger landed on the left Chase Jessee (1-0), who pushed the game to extras as he struck out Galli Cribbs Jr.
Abdiel Layer started the top of the tenth inning at second base, and Dario Gomez moved him over on a sacrifice bunt. Torin Montgomery was up next and sent one deep enough out to left field for Layer to score and for the X's to retake the lead.
Jessee came back out to begin the bottom of the inning. Cribbs Jr began the inning at second base as the extra-inning zombie runner and a walk and hit batsman later, Jesse had loaded the bases with nobody out.
Thomas Jones came to the plate with a chance to win the game with a single but went down looking as Jesse dug deep for the first out. Jesse forced a pop out from Todd Lott as the Cougars were down to their final out again.
It would be Josh Allen standing between the X's and 2-0 start to the season. Allen broke his bat on a ground ball to Layer at third, who threw the short way to second and somehow Nick Shumpert got to the bag in time for the final out.
Despite the victory, the X's mustered just three hits throughout the game (Davis, Gomez and Shumpert), giving them only six hits across the first two games of the 2025 campaign. After the three-run fourth inning, the next 18 Explorers' hitters were retired in order before Nick Shumpert reached on an infield single with two outs in the tenth.
The Explorers play the final game of the three-game series Saturday night against the Kane County Cougars at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva, Illinois. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. The first pitch is slated for a 6:30 p.m.
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