Rain Condenses Bees’ Chances – Baseball at The Hive

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Only a half-inning was played before Wednesday’s doubleheader showdown between the Burlington Bees and the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp sank in the muddy depths of Community Field’s right-field turf and warning track.

A sudden heavy rain that hit right after the Bees scored two runs in the top of the first inning led to a delay of more than 90 minutes before umpires ruled that the field was unplayable.

Instead of two games that could have determined the second-half champion of the Prospect League’s Northwest Division, the two teams went their separate ways with the Bees holding a half-game lead over the Pistol Shrimp with Thursday’s regular-season finales to be played.

The Bees (32-21 overall, 20-7 second half) play at Quincy (16-37, 7-23), while Illinois Valley (31-22, 20-8) plays host to first-half division champion Clinton (33-19, 15-12). A Bees win or an Illinois Valley loss would clinch the first playoff bid in Burlington’s five seasons in the league.

“We wanted to play them today, show them that we deserve it for real,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said after meeting with his players in the dugout following the announcement of the cancellation. “But we’re going to go out there tomorrow with the same mentality.”

The Bees were the visiting team in the first game, which was a make-up of the June 25 game at Illinois Valley that was rained out, and struck quickly for a 2-0 lead. Cole Yearsley’s double scored Jace Figuereo, then Yearsley scored on Corey Boyette’s sacrifice fly.

But rain started to fall as the Bees took the field for the bottom of the inning, then it began pouring as Illinois Valley’s Lucas Smith stepped to the plate. Plate umpire Preston Childers waved the teams off the field as Bees staff members and players, with some help from a couple of Illinois Valley players, got the tarp on the field.

The rain stopped within 15 minutes, but after the tarp was removed, there was standing water along the warning track in front of each team’s dugout, and a large area in right field behind where the infield ended was swampy. The two teams decided to wait 90 minutes to try to play again, but the field failed to dry.

“I mean, it really rained hard there,” Oreskovich said. “We did whatever we could. We got the tarp on right away. But right field is a problem, and the warning track was a problem. That’s just real life. There was nothing we could do.”

Even if the game had been able to restarted, it likely wouldn’t have gotten finished — more rain fell 90 minutes after the game was called off.

The outfield had already taken a half-inch of rain overnight — the infield had been tarped after Tuesday’s win over Johnstown.

Now it’s all about one game.

“We’re going to be foot on the gas pedal as soon as we get on the bus tomorrow,” Oreskovich said. “We’re going to be rocking, ready to go in there and get a win to get into the playoffs.”

Photo: Bees players Jace Figuereo (24), Mitchell Cox (40), Raul Gil (15) and Jack Duncan (32) help get the tarp on the field as a heavy rain falls on Community Field during the first game of Wednesday’s scheduled doubleheader. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)