Kane County Cougars RHP Emilio Vargas struck out 17 and walked none in a dominant performance over the Quad Cities River Bandits at Modern Woodmen Park on Saturday.

The only blemish for Vargas occurred in the 9th inning. He gave up a leadoff triple to Jake Rogers — only the second Quad Cities hit of the game — before a fielding error by shortstop Sergio Alcantara allowed Rogers to score. Vargas was then taken out of the game. The River Bandits scored one more run before reliever Austin Mason completed the save for a 4-2 Cougars victory.

In 12 starts for the Cougars this season, Vargas is 4-6 with a 3.56 ERA, 63 strikeouts and 18 walks in 65.2 innings.

The Midwest League record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in a single game is 22. Decatur Commodores LHP Bob Sprout did it against the Waterloo Hawks on Aug. 18, 1960.