Cubs End Regular Season With 10-5 Loss to Kernels

Cedar Rapids hit three home runs to spoil a six-game sweep.
South Bend, IN – The South Bend Cubs (77-51) lost their final game of the regular season to the Cedar Rapids Kernels (48-82) on Sunday afternoon at Four Winds Field, dropping a 10-5 result. The Cubs enter the Midwest League postseason with a 5-1 series victory and finish the season series with a 12-6 record against Cedar Rapids.
Click here to view Sunday’s box score.
Working against right-hander Kolten Smith, the Cubs struck first for the third consecutive game. They did so Sunday in the bottom of the first, as first baseman Josiah Hartshorn led off with a walk and scored on second baseman Jose Escobar’s single up the middle.
Cedar Rapids took the lead a couple of innings later, tagging South Bend starter Anhuar Garcia for four runs in the top of the third. After a strikeout opened the inning, six consecutive Kernels reached — including five straight base hits. First baseman JP Smith II delivered the big shot, a three-run home run to left-center field, and right fielder Byron Chourio later notched an RBI triple.
The Cubs answered quickly, erasing the 4-1 deficit with a run in the third and two more in the fourth. In the third inning, center fielder Leonel Espinoza reached second on a pair of errors and crossed the plate on shortstop Angel Cepeda’s double to left-center field. In the next inning, Hartshorn drilled a two-run double to left-center, bringing his full-season RBI total to 109 and tying the game up.
After right-hander Jackson Kirkpatrick tightroped his way through 2.0 scoreless innings, the Kernels took control of the game. They scored three unearned runs in the sixth inning, as right fielder Kade Snell’s dropped fly ball allowed the go-ahead run to score and extended the frame to Andy Lugo, who came off the bench and drilled a two-run home run to left.
With the Cubs content to save their arms for the postseason, infielder Michael Hallquist pitched the final 2.1 innings for South Bend, allowing three runs but striking out a man. Lugo tagged him for his second home run of the day in the eighth, and another two runs came home in the ninth.
South Bend scored the final run of the game in the ninth inning, getting doubles from Hartshorn and catcher Justin Stransky. Hartshorn’s two-bagger drove in the run, bringing the game to its final score of 10-5.
The Cubs now head into the postseason for the first time since 2022, beginning with the best-of-three West Division Championship Series against the Quad Cities River Bandits. Game 1 is scheduled for 7:30 PM ET on Tuesday, September 8, at Modern Woodmen Park, while Game 2 and Game 3 (if necessary) will occur at Four Winds Field on September 10 and 11.