By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
Cole Yearsley came to the plate in the eighth inning with all of the numbers burning in red on the Community Field scoreboard and had one thought.
“Let’s get this over with,” said Yearsley, the Burlington Bees’ designated hitter.
And he did end the game, his two-run single scoring Lincoln Cardwell and Colin Schmitke to end the game on the 10-run rule as the Bees defeated the Quincy Doggy Paddlers 27-17 in Friday’s Prospect League game.
The win kept the Bees (24-20 overall, 12-6 second half) a half-game behind the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp for first place in the Northwest Division, but it wasn’t a win they exactly wanted to celebrate.
The final linescore was an equation of ugliness — the Doggy Paddlers didn’t score in three innings, and the Bees didn’t score in two. The two teams combined for 32 hits and seven errors, and the 10 pitchers combined walked 20.
“I’m glad we won, but that’s just not good baseball,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “The offense did well, but to give up 17 runs … we’ve got to be better, plain and simple. It’s almost tough to be happy about this game.”
“It’s one of those where it’s good to find a way to win, but it also leaves kind of that sour taste in your mouth,” said Yearsley, who had two hits and drove in five runs.
“This is one of the craziest games I’ve been a part of,” said left fielder Marcus Beatty, who had four hits, drove in four runs, and scored four times.
The Bees were down 7-0 heading into the bottom of the second inning, and 12-3 heading into the bottom of the fourth.
“We came out flat,” Oreskovich said. “We were flat the entire day.”
The Doggy Paddlers (14-28, 5-14), whose losing streak reached 10, have played four doubleheaders since July 5, and the Bees were able to carve away at their tired pitching staff. Quincy used just four pitchers, with reliever Ethan Gamez taking the brunt of the Bees’ comeback, giving up 10 runs in 3 ⅔ innings.
“I mean, I never doubted we could win,” Yearsley said. “I don’t think a lot of the guys ever doubted it. We came out flat, just not a lot of energy to come out with. But we knew that Quincy’s been struggling. They don’t have a lot of pitching, a lot of depth, we just stayed on it. Foot on the gas, and just grind it out. And, that’s what we did, just grinded it out.”
“When we were down 9-1, 12-3, whatever, I didn’t think we were ever out of it,” Beatty said.
The Bees scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on just four hits, then after reliever Morgan Jennings pitched a scoreless fifth inning, added eight more runs in the bottom of the inning.
“That was the biggest thing,” Beatty said. “It wasn’t just getting the seven runs in the fourth, it was putting up a zero in the top of the fifth.”
“(Jennings) looked incredible,” Oreskovich said. “And that helped turn things around, him putting up a zero and then us taking the lead. Awesome job by him.
Jennings (1-0) was one of two Bees pitchers to not allow a run. Zach Leuschen closed out the game with 1 ⅓ scoreless innings, shutting down the Doggy Paddlers in the seventh after they got to within 18-17. Burlington got four runs in the bottom of the seventh, then finished off the game with a five-run eighth inning.
“That’s the thing, we should have put them away in the seventh,” Yearsley said.
It was the fourth consecutive win for the Bees, who have scored 64 runs in the winning streak.
Caleb Klein and Jeremy Figueroa also drove in four runs for Burlington.
The game took 3 hours, 30 minutes, and after it ended the winners were ready to move on to the next day.
“You’re glad you won,” Yearsley said. “There’s something to be said about finding a way to win. But you just have to learn from this one. Just pretend it didn’t happen.”
“Tomorrow’s a new day,” Oreskovich said. “A new day to be better.”
Box score
Top photo: Bees designated hitter Cole Yearsley (18) is congratulated by teammates after his eighth-inning single brought in the final runs of the 27-17 win over Quincy. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
