Bees Hold Off LumberKings 9-8

Bees Hold Off LumberKings 9-8
Box Score
July 19, 2022
Recap courtesy of the Burlington Bees:

BURLINGTON, Iowa - The Bees carried a 9-6 lead into the top of the ninth, and as it usually goes between these two teams, it got interesting.

The LumberKings tagged two Burlington relievers for two runs to bring Clinton within a run before Kyle Maurer shut them down, earning his fifth save of the season, and his second in as many nights.

Burlington trailed 6-2 heading in to the bottom of the sixth, dropped five runs on the LumberKings and took a lead they would not relinquish.

With one out in the home sixth Bees first baseman Ryan Grace drove a single to left to get things started. Right fielder AJ Henkle followed with a home run to right to make it 6-4.  Catcher Ben Tallman walked and advance on a wild pitch.  An out later shortstop Tucker Colewas hit by a pitch.  Center fielder Lincoln Riley drove Tallman home with a single to right.  Cole went to third.

Sam Monroe, who had already walked twice to extend his league lead to 35 free passes, also singled to right pushing Cole across.  Kevin Santiago flared an RBI single to right center field.  Riley scored on the play.  That capped the scoring in the frame with the Bees ahead 7-6.

They tacked on the proverbial insurance runs in the seventh.  Grace once again got things going, this time with a scorching shot that tied up Clinton first baseman Connor Giusti, bounding off him and rolling to the right field corner for a double.  He went to third on a Henkle fly out.

Clinton made a pitching change.  Ben Tallman greeted Nick Scanlon with a triple to the left center field wall.  Grace scored.  Dawson Estep plated Tallman on a single.  That pushed the score to 9-6.  For Bees fans, it was what they would need.

In the end, Hamilkar Medina (1-0) took the win in relief of Cauy Massner, who tossed four innings.  Medina allowed two runs on two hits over two innings.  Weston Fulk went two and a third.  He gave up two runs on no hits, but walked five.

Clinton second baseman Tyler Dahm had three runs batted in with a two run home run and an RBI walk.

The teams will meet a final time in Clinton on August 1st.

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Recap courtesy of the Clinton LumberKings:
 
BURLINGTON, Iowa - On Tuesday night the Clinton LumberKings lost their third game in a row, a 9-8 defeat in Burlington, Iowa against the Bees.
 
After both teams scored a pair in the early innings the LumberKings pulled away in the middle innings. Adam Weed (University of Illinois Chicago) gave Clinton a 3-2 advantage with an RBI double.
 
Clinton added one run in the fifth and in the sixth extended the lead to four with Tyler Dahm's (Mount Mercy) first home run of the year, a two-run homer. 
 
In the bottom half of the sixth Burlington answered in a big way. The Bees plated five runs in the inning. It started with an A.J. Henkle (University of Illinois Chicago) two-run homer. Then Lincoln Riley (Eastern Illinois) added a run with an RBI single. Burlington tied the game on a Sam Monroe (Southeastern CC) RBI single and took the lead one batter later with another RBI knock, this time from Kevin Santiago (Texas Wesleyan). After the sixth Burlington led 7-6.
 
The Bees tallied two more in the seventh and took a 9-6 lead into the ninth.
 
The LumberKings fought back in the ninth inning. After the LumberKings loaded the bases, Cade Moss (Iowa) collected an RBI on a pinch-hit walk making it 9-7. A few batters later Tyler Dahm walked with the bases still loaded to make it 9-8. The effort wasn't enough, as the LumberKings stranded the tying and go-ahead runs on base losing the game 9-8.
 
Logan Schmitt (Kirkwood CC) suffered the loss for Clinton in relief. Burlington's Hamilkar Medina (Our Lady of the Lake University) collected the win and Kyle Maurer (Purdue University Fort Wayne) recorded his fifth save of the season.
 
The LumberKings have the day off tomorrow before returning to NelsonCorp Field on Thursday night against the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp at 6:30 p.m.
 
It will be Clinton National Bank Night and the fourth Camanche-Dewitt Coalition & Mediacom Baseball Card Strip Giveaway.