Bees Come From Behind to Defeat LumberKings

Bees Come From Behind to Defeat LumberKings
Box Score
June 22, 2022

FROM BURLINGTON:

BURLINGTON, Iowa - In his first appearance for the Bees lefty Osvaldo Mendez took a no hitter into the fifth inning, before giving a two run home run to Clinton's Jeremy Conforti.  The blast gave Clinton a brief 2-0 lead.

Burlington answered right back in the bottom of the frame.  Second baseman Brandon Bickford opened with a single to center.  Sam Monroe drove a single to right.  Bickford advanced to third.  Shortstop Trey Adams, who had two RBI in last night's game, followed with a run scoring base hit to right to make it 2-1.

Monroe moved to third on a ground ball double play, and came home on a Clinton error off the bat of AJ Henkle.

Bees' Cauy Massner gave up two tough runs in the sixth.  A leadoff single by Isaiah Thompson led to an unearned run when third baseman Kevin Santiago threw a Nick Fleckenstein ground ball into right field.  Thompson scored.  Fleckenstein wound up on third.

After a fly out, Adam Weed drove in the runner on a sharp single to right.  He was subsequently caught stealing.  A ground out ended the inning with Clinton ahead 4-2.

The LumberKings added run in the seventh on a triple and a wild pitch.

Burlington tied the game in the home half of the inning.  Trey Adams singled to right.  Spencer Nivens did the same.  Henkle stroked a base hit to center to load the bases.  Kevin Santiagodribbled a ball down the first base line for a 3-1 RBI fielders' choice.  Nivens went to third.  Henkle went to second.  A Marcos Sanchez sacrifice fly drove in Nivens.  With catcher Chase Honeycutt at the plate, Henkle stole third and scored on Honeycutt's single up the middle.  That would give Burlington the 7-5 lead.

Owen Rice, who had relieved Massner, struck out the side in order in the eighth, and took the win.  His record goes to 1-1.  Kyle Maurer came on for the save in the ninth.  It was his first.  Nick Scanlon, 0-1, took the loss.

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FROM CLINTON:

BURLINGTON, Iowa - In a back and forth fight the Clinton LumberKings fell 7-5 to the Burlington Bees at Community Field in Burlington, Iowa Wednesday night.
 
The scoring opened in the fifth. Both teams scored two in the inning. Clinton would take the lead in the top half. Jeremy Conforti (College of DuPage) drove in two with his second home run of the season. Burlington responded with an RBI hit from Trey Adams (Northeastern Junior College) and later A.J. Henkle (University of Illinois Chicago) crossed the plate on an error from Conforti at first base. 
 
Clinton would regain the lead in the sixth, scoring two. Isaiah Thompson (Indiana State) crossed the plate on an error and Adam Weed (University of Illinois Chicago) drove in a run with a single making it 4-2.
 
After Clinton plated one more in the seventh, Burlington responded in a big way. Trailing 5-2 the Bees plated three in the bottom of the seventh, with the tying run coming across on a Chase Honeycutt (Jones County Junior College) RBI knock making it 5-5.
 
In the bottom of the eighth still tied, Burlington took the lead for good. An RBI groundout from Spencer Nivens (Missouri State) and an infield RBI single off the bat of Marcos Sanchez (Texas Wesleyan) gave Burlington a two-run lead into the ninth.
 
Clinton could not muster enough in the ninth and fell by the score of 7-5.
 
The LumberKings now return home for four games this weekend. The first game is tomorrow night against the Normal CornBelters, a very important matchup in a close Great River Division.
 
First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.