By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
The squandered early chances proved costly late in the Burlington Bees’ 14-5 loss to the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp in Thursday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.
The Bees (11-14) had opportunities to score early and build a lead against the Pistol Shrimp (7-17), but didn’t take advantage. And then when the errors started to pile up on the Bees, the game got away.
Burlington committed five errors which led to four unearned runs.
The Bees twice tied the game in the first three innings, had chances to get more, and then squandered them.
Foti Rigopoulos’ solo home run in the first inning tied the game at 1, but the Bees left runners on first and third. They tied the game at 3 in the third on Adam Kudronowicz’s two-run single, but couldn’t get any more runs. And then in the sixth inning, they scored twice to get within 6-5, but left the bases loaded.
Illinois Valley put the game away with two runs in the eighth and then six runs in the ninth inning.
Tyler Sabodor (2-1) was the winning pitcher. Sean O’Dowd (0-1) took the loss.
Burlington plays host to the Normal CornBelters in a 6:30 p.m. game on Friday.
Photo: Foti Rigopoulos watches his solo home run in the first inning. (Photo by Steve Cirinna)
