Schulte Enjoys Time With The Team – Baseball at The Hive

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Justin Schulte got to manage a different team this weekend.

Schulte, the head baseball coach at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, was the interim manager of the Burlington Bees for three games while manager Owen Oreskovich was attending a wedding.

It was a new experience for the veteran coach.

“It’s hard doing it for three days, but I want to do it right if I’m going to do it,” Schulte said after the Bees lost a Prospect League doubleheader to the Clinton LumberKings on Saturday night at Community Field.

The 3-2 loss in eight innings in the first game and the 11-6 loss in the second game dropped the Bees (9-8) three games behind the LumberKings (12-5) in the Northwest Division standings.

“We just didn’t do enough to win,” Schulte said. “The guys played hard. They’re a good group.”

Schulte went 1-2 in his time in the dugout — the Bees won 16-12 at Quincy on Thursday night.

“We played really good the other night — had a couple of bad outings out of the bullpen, but guys really played well offensively,” Schulte said. “Had some good innings tonight, but not enough. I thought we hit the ball extremely well tonight, just a lot of balls right at people.”

The Bees rallied from 2-0 deficit in the first game, tying the game in the sixth inning on Corey Boyette’s solo home run to right-center field.

Clinton scored the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth on Nick Venteicher’s single. Burlington had runners on first and third with one out in the bottom of the inning, but Clinton reliever Camden Clevitt struck out Mason Schwalbach and Miles Risley to end the game.

Will Schufrieder (2-1) was the winning pitcher.

The Bees took an early lead in the second game with a four-run second inning. Kooper Schulte, Justin’s son, tripled to right-center field to put Burlington up 2-1. Jace Figuereo and Cole Yearsley added run-scoring singles.

Clinton tied the game in the third inning, then took control of the game with a six-run fourth inning that was capped by Colin Coonradt’s three-run home run.

Burlington got its final runs in the fifth inning on bases-loaded walks by Dash Denton and Figuereo, but couldn’t get any closer.

Rylen Blair (1-0) was the winning pitcher. Zane Frese (0-2) took the loss.

Schulte appreciated the experience of managing the team.

“They’re here to play,” he said. “I actually spent a little time with them with early work the last couple of days, working with the infielders, talking to the pitchers. I’ve enjoyed that.”

Photo: Burlington’s Corey Boyette celebrates his home run in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against Clinton. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)