Another Big First-Inning Answer – Baseball at The Hive

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

The last thing Burlington Bees manager Owen Oreskovich wanted was another big deficit.

His team had another resounding answer.

The 15-7 win over the Clinton LumberKings in Thursday’s Prospect League game at Community Field was built by the Bees’ first-inning response.

The Bees had been outscored 33-12 in their previous two games, and fell behind in this one when Clinton’s Colin Coonradt hit a three-run home run in the top of the first inning off Bees starter Jackson Rodgers.

Burlington answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning, the last three coming on Caleb Seibers home run, and the Bees wouldn’t trail again. Rodgers was able to give the Bees five innings of work, allowing one run over the last four.

“Seibs stepped up with a big homer there to take the lead, and that let J-Rod go out there with a little less pressure and pitch with a lead,” Oreskovich said.

It was the second time in less than a week that the Bees had such a response — they scored six runs in the first inning of Saturday’s 14-10 win over Normal after giving up five in the top of the inning.

The Bees then took advantage of the opportunities the LumberKings gave them the rest of the game.

Their three runs in the fourth inning came on an error, a wild pitch, and a groundout. An error in the sixth inning brought in one of the two runs. Two more errors in the seventh inning led to two runs.

The Bees finished with 10 hits.

We took advantage of all their mistakes as well,” Oreskovich said. “Which is something we haven’t been doing too much of lately. We played the game, we played the game well.”

Rodgers (3-0) struck out seven and allowed eight hits. Nick Baffa (0-1), who lasted just ⅔ of an inning, took the loss.

Burlington plays at Clinton Friday and Alton on Saturday and Sunday before getting two days off for the Prospect League’s All-Star Game in Springfield, Ill., on Tuesday. Five Bees were selected to represent the team — Seibers, infielder Kooper Schulte, catcher Mason Schwalbach, and pitchers Braeden Sunken and Kaelen Clarkson. Burlington and Clinton had the most players selected.

“Those guys, they worked their tail off to get that opportunity,” Oreskovich said. “They’re good baseball players, and it’s exciting they get a chance. So, you know, they’re good baseball players, and it’s exciting. I don’t know if we would have had five in years past. That’s a really cool thing for us.”

Box score

Photo: Burlington’s Caleb Seibers watches his first-inning home run. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)