By Mike Monaco

SOUTH BEND – In a sea of white pinstripes in the first-base dugout, one blue, hooded figure stood out. Between pacing back and forth, clapping his hands, confidently chomping on bubble gum, refilling his plastic cup with water and picking mud from his cleats, Erick Leal blurted out words of encouragement to his teammates.

With each complete full inning, Leal ascended to the top step of the dugout — paused — walked toward the foul line, skipped over the stripe and jogged back to the mound, ready to resume his quest for history.

Leal tossed nine no-hit innings, but Kane County defeated South Bend, 1-0, in 12 innings Tuesday night at Four Winds Field in the series opener.

“Man, I don’t have words to explain it today,” Leal said. “Today is a big day. Today is my first time nine innings too. My second baseman [David Bote] helped me a lot today too. Amazing today.”

The right-hander didn’t allow a hit and only surrendered one base runner on 86 pitches in nine frames. The 20-year old struck out four. After getting a groundout to end the top of the ninth, Leal walked to the dugout and saluted the crowd, which greeted him with a standing ovation.

“Work hard, play fast, that’s it,” said Leal, who stressed the importance of his fastball and curveball, in particular, against Kane County.

The Cougars (29-9 second half, 65-41 overall) scored in the 12th on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Ildemaro Vargas to top the Cubs (18-20 second half, 47-58 overall) in the series opener.

“My team didn’t hit so much today, but they helped me in the field,” Leal said. “I’m happy for that and thankful.”

In July 2014, South Bend Silver Hawks pitcher Blayne Weller pitched nine no-hit innings against Dayton, the sixth no-hitter in South Bend franchise history.

South Bend shortstop Bryant Flete coaxed a leadoff walk and stole second to start the bottom of the ninth. As their teammates donned rally caps in the dugout, the Cubs came up empty against Kane County reliever Jency Solis.

Cubs right-hander Corbin Hoffner relieved Leal in the 10th. With one out, Cougars No. 3 hitter Cody Regis dropped down a bunt but was thrown out by Cubs catcher Gioskar Amaya on a close play at first. Cougars cleanup man Marty Herum then singled through the right side for Kane County’s first hit of the night.

South Bend loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 10th but couldn’t push across the winning run. The Cubs stranded eight runners on base from the seventh inning on.

Leal retired the first 13 batters he faced before walking Kane County center fielder Colin Bray with one out in the fifth. Cubs second baseman David Bote made a sliding stab up the middle for the first out in the second and a sliding catch on a blooper into right-center field for the second out in the seventh.

“He saved my life,” Leal said.

Cubs leadoff man Jeffrey Baez collected the only three hits, two doubles and a single, in the entire ballgame through the first six-and-a-half innings.

South Bend and Kane County clash Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. ET at Four Winds Field in the middle matchup of the three-game series. Cubs right-hander Trevor Clifton (5.00 ERA) is set to oppose Cougars righty Markus Solbach (2.80 ERA).