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The visiting Kane County Cougars clobbered the Winnipeg Goldeyes earlier this week on the field, but they took a big loss Thursday morning just outside Blue Cross Park.
The team’s charter bus, parked in a lot across William Stephenson Way, was set ablaze around 2 a.m., said police, who arrested two people.
The bus and contents were destroyed, but there were no injuries, police said.
Two teens were taken into custody while fire crews put out the flames.
Investigators determined the fire was deliberately set and have charged one of the teens, a 15-year-old-girl, with arson-related offences, police said in a news release.
Curtis Haug, vice-president and general manager of the Cougars, confirmed the bus was being used by the team on its road trip to Winnipeg and then Fargo, N.D.
The bus is owned by Windstar Lines, a charter company based in Carroll, Iowa. The Cougars are based in Geneva, Ill., a suburb west of Chicago.
“Everyone is OK, and we are still determining if any gear or personal property was lost,” Haug said.
Windstar operations manager Jackson Greteman said the company was told early Thursday that its 56-seat bus “was purposely set fire while parked overnight.”
“We are very disappointed that this could happen to our family-owned company, and the loss of this vehicle will impact our business and operations,” he wrote in an email to CBC News. The bus was worth $425,000 US (about $585,000 Cdn), he said.
“We are happy that no one was hurt in this reckless act of vandalism and are co-operating with local authorities.”
The Cougars play the final game of the team’s three-game series in Winnipeg on Thursday morning.
After beating the Goldeyes 14-2 on Tuesday, the Cougars lost the Wednesday game 3-2.
They are scheduled for another three-game series in Fargo, starting Friday.
“With the help of Andrew Collier, the Goldeyes GM, we have secured a bus that will take us to Fargo this afternoon for our games this weekend,” Haug said.
“Then we have our bus company, Windstar, sending a bus to Fargo tonight to help complete the trip.”
