By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
Jaden Hackbarth was almost the final out twice.
But when he saw what was happening as he raced toward first base as part of a basepath carousel of Burlington Bees, Hackbarth knew what was it meant.
“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s game,’” Hackbarth said.
And so it was.
Two errors on back-to-back swings by Hackbarth in the bottom of the ninth inning finished the Bees’ 7-6 comeback win over the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp in Thursday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.
The Bees (2-0), who had two hits and no runs through the first innings, scored four runs in the eighth inning and three runs in a wild ninth, finally taking advantage of all the Pistol Shrimp gave them throughout the night.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said, smiling. “Wasn’t pretty.”
No, but it was a lot of fun, Hackbarth said over the celebratory cacophony in the Bees’ clubhouse.
“We were kind of dead in those first seven innings without any runs,” the third baseman said. “I think the team showed a lot of grit and it showed us we can compete with one of the better teams in the league, and that we can come from behind.”
The Bees were down to their last out, down 6-4 in the ninth, after Illinois Valley reliever Bret Baldus struck out Jackson Fisher and Tanner Holland to start the inning. But Baldus walked Cedric Dunnwald on a 3-2 pitch and then walked Drew Gaskins on five pitches.
Juju Thompson (0-1) replaced Baldus and walked Connor Laeng on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. With Hackbarth at the plate, Thompson threw a wild pitch, allowing Dunnwald to score and advancing Gaskins and Laeng.
Hackbarth worked a 3-2 count, then hit a foul ball in front of the Pistol Shrimp dugout that first baseman Emanuel Andujar seemed to have a play on, but the ball dropped behind Andujar for an error.
“I was hoping he couldn’t see it when it got up in the lights,” Oreskovich said. “That’s another one of those things when it happens, things have to go your way.”
“I was really hoping he was going to drop it and give me another chance,” Hackbarth said. “I didn’t think I put my best swing on it, and when it fell, a big sigh of relief.”
Hackbarth did get a good swing on the next pitch, hitting a hard grounder up the middle that shortstop Jake Ferguson fielded. Ferguson whirled and threw to first, but the ball was high and sailed off the glove of a leaping Andujar. Gaskins and Laeng scored, and the rally was complete.
“I knew he was going to come at me with a strike,” Hackbarth said. “I wanted to make sure I was on time — I didn’t want him to beat me with his best stuff. I hit it well, and just tried to run as quick as I could to first.”
“The shortstop made a great play,” Oreskovich said. “But that ball was smoked.”
Burlington Bees third baseman Jaden Hackbarth watches his ninth-inning grounder that led to the winning runs. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
It was a night when the Bees made plenty of contact, it just seemed like everything found a Pistol Shrimp glove.
Hackbarth hit two balls to center field that were tracked down. Brandon Bickford lined out to left field with runners on second and third to end the Bees’ four-run eighth inning.
Burlington left 11 baserunners in the first seven innings.
“I don’t think the box score is going to show what was happening,” Oreskovich said.
“It was definitely frustrating,” Hackbarth said. “But they kept putting guys on (the Pistol Shrimp gave up 13 walks) and we were bound to get some runs going with those opportunities.”
The Bees got strong pitching from starter Jacob Zahner and relievers Luke Fredrick and Ryan Donley (1-0).
Zahner, making his first pitching appearance of the year after not throwing at all for Southeastern Community College, gave up just two earned runs in four innings, allowing eight hits while striking out two. Fredrick gave up one run over three innings, then Donley allowed one unearned run in two innings.
“I’ve got to give credit to our pitching staff,” Oreskovich said. “They had 11 hits, or whatever it was. But our guys were throwing weak contact, they were doing their job.
“Zahner pitched a hell of a game out there, I really like what I saw in him. Fredrick going out there and throwing up zeroes was huge. (Donley) came in and was great. Those guys kept us in the game, gave us the chance at the end.”
Two games into the season, two wins for the Bees.
“Give credit to these guys,” Oreskovich said. “They believed. I like this team a lot. They’ve got a confidence about them. They want to compete every time, and they want to win. They’re having fun.”
ON DECK: The Bees begin a two-game series at Illinois Valley with Friday’s 7:05 p.m. game. Cauy Massner will be the starting pitcher for Burlington.
Top photo: The Burlington Bees celebrate after Thursday’s 7-6 win over Illinois Valley. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
Baseball at The Hive 