Oconomowoc, Wis. – The Lake Country DockHounds used five home runs to outslug the Kane County Cougars on Wednesday night, 8-5.
Aaron Hill went yard twice while Demetrius Sims, Ryan Hernandez, and Brian O’Keefe deposited solo shots.
Hill got the party started in the second inning with a lead-off home run while Gabriel Aguilera retired the first ten batters he faced before Kane County scored twice in the top of the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, O’Keefe’s sixth home run of the season tied it at two. The Cougars clawed ahead with two more runs in the sixth inning, but Lake Country refused to go down in the bottom half.
Brian Rey led off the frame with a line-drive single before Aaron Hill laced his second home run of the night, his third multi-home run game in the American Association, to tie it up at four runs apiece. Two batters later, Sims’ tenth bomb of the year was sent out to left-center field.
Aguilera spun seven frames of four-run baseball. Three of his runs were earned off of five hits and a walk, while he struck out three batters.
In the seventh inning, Hernandez added more insurance with a two-out solo home run, bringing his team-high season total to fourteen.
The Cougars tagged a solo home run off of Trey Riley in relief. Riley struck out four batters in his lone frame of work, leaving with a 6-5 lead.
Sims and Hayden Dunhurst worked back-to-back walks to set up a prime scoring position for Ray Zuberer III in the bottom of the eighth inning. He delivered with his 12th double of the year to center that brought home both runners and made it a three-run lead. His double secured another DockHound game where all nine batters in the lineup reached base safely.
“It’s fun to be around right now, the hitting is contagious, everyone can see it,” said Hill. “We’re doing better with rolling this type of energy out daily, but we can still improve.”
Eric Torres struck out the side to lock down the ninth inning, his 13th save of the year.
Lake Country (45-30) goes for a series win in the finale on Thursday night. RHP Dominic Cancellieri takes the mound for the DockHounds at 6:35 p.m.
