Oconomowoc, Wis. – The Lake Country DockHounds’ bats stayed hot in the series finale against the Kane County Cougars, exploding to a 12-3 victory on Thursday night.
Dominic Cancellieri struck out the first three batters of the ballgame before the DockHounds scratched four runs across in the first inning, courtesy of an RBI single from Brian O’Keefe and a three-run home run from Aaron Hill.
“The strikeouts were nice because it helped show that what I did at college can carry over to the professional level, but having the offense be red-hot early really helps the confidence to go out and attack hitters,” said Cancellieri.
Ray Zuberer plated Derek Maiben in the second inning to extend the lead before Kane County responded with a run in the top of the third frame. Maiben swiped two bases in the contest.
All nine batters came to the box in the fifth inning. Freddy Rojas, Jr. worked a bases-loaded walk while Maiben and Chavez Young both had RBI base hits for another four-run inning.
Cancellieri turned in a career-long six-inning outing with six strikeouts, holding Kane County to three runs – one earned – on six hits and just one walk.
“I trusted my stuff, and O’Keefe was huge for me behind the plate…he called a great game,” said Cancellieri.
O’Keefe slugged his seventh home run of the year in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it a 10-3 ballgame. Daunte Stuart led off the eighth with a double before scoring an extra run on O’Keefe’s follow-up double. Ryan Hernandez tacked on a single to score O’Keefe for good measure, pushing it to 12-3.
All nine DockHounds reached base during the game; seven of nine both hit and scored.
“They’re all incredibly resilient…doesn’t matter the count, score… so when they’re on, it’s a scary sight,” said Cancellieri.
Trey Dillard and Beau Philip locked down the final nine outs for the DockHounds, combining for five more punch-outs.
As a staff, the Hounds struck out ten batters per game in the four-game set against Kane County.
Lake Country (46-30) is sixteen games above .500 for the first time in franchise history after winning its eleventh series of the year against an East Division opponent. Divisional play continues on Friday at Wisconsin Brewing Company Park with a three-game set over the weekend against the second-place Chicago Dogs.
