By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
Jake Jakubowski finished what he originally attempted to finish by, basically, being the starter.
If that sounds a little odd, it was the situation that was presented to the Burlington Bees’ closer in Monday’s completion of a suspended game against the Quincy Gems.
Jakubowski did the job he was given by Bees manager Owen Oreskovich, striking out three of the four hitters he faced in a scoreless 10th inning, then Caleb Wulf’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the inning gave Burlington the 5-4 victory.
The Bees couldn’t complete the sweep of the night, though, falling 8-3 in the seven-inning regularly-scheduled Prospect League game at Community Field.
Burlington (17-24 overall, 7-7 second half) stayed a half-game behind the Gems (21-22, 8-7) for the Great River Division second-half playoff spot.
Jakubowski has three saves this season, with 12 strikeouts in 12 innings to go with a 0.00 earned run average.
“He’s our guy we go to to win games,” Oreskovich said.
“I love the pressure,” Jakubowski said. “I just feel comfortable in that (role), and I prefer that.
“You know, in this game, you can’t be perfect. But in that role, you don’t have much margin for error. You try to be as perfect as you can, and that’s what I like about that.”
The Bees led 4-1 in the July 7 game against the Gems when Jakubowski entered in the ninth inning. Two errors, two hits and a hit-by-pitch led to three unearned runs. The game was halted after the bottom of the ninth because of lightning, and then a heavy rain forced the game to be suspended.
Oreskovich knew he wanted Jakubowski to pitch the 10th because of the league’s extra-inning rule in which a runner starts on second base.
“I think JJ gave us the best chance to get the three outs without letting the run score,” Oreskovich said.
Jakubowski (2-0) said he didn’t change his routine to start the night.
“I prepared the same way — played catch with my throwing partner, then threw with my catcher in the bullpen like I was getting ready to close the game,” Jakubowski said.
That previous inning from 10 days earlier was still on Jakubowski’s mind.
“I wish I had a couple of pitches back,” Jakubowski said. “The hitters had a nice game plan against me the first time, so I tried to kind of switch it up, throw the slider early in the count, and it worked out for me today.”
Jakubowski got Joe Siervo and Jimmy Koza on called third strikes for the first two outs. Harry Oden got an infield single off Jakubowski’s glove, but Jakubowski struck out Lucas Loos to end the inning.
The Bees then won the game in the bottom of the inning. Corey Boyette’s infield grounder advanced Tanner Holland, who started the inning on second base, to third. Mason Schwalbach and Keanu Spenser were intentionally walked, then Wulf drove a 1-2 pitch from Quincy reliever Andrew Fay into left field to end the game.
“We wanted to come out and start the game off strong, because we knew we had a second game and we wanted to get that win nice and quick,” Jakubowski said.
Any momentum, though, was taken away by the Gems early in the second game. They got two two-out runs off Bees starter Rem Maxwell (1-4) in the first-inning, then added a run in the third inning and four in the fourth.
Maxwell was charged with seven earned runs in 3 ⅓ innings.
“Starting pitching has got to be better, and that’s been a problem the last week and a couple of days,” Oreskovich said. “We just have to be better, plain and simple.”
The Bees got two runs in the third inning. Spenser’s sacrifice fly scored Boyette, then Schwalbach scored on a wild pitch.
Boyette drove in Connor Laeng in the sixth for the final margin.
Noah Harbin (3-0) was the winning pitcher.
NOTES: Laeng went 2-for-4 in the second game. He has eight hits in his last 15 at-bats after getting just two hits in his first 67 at-bats. … Quincy first baseman Jaison Andujar, the son of former MLB pitcher Joaquin Andujar, went 2-for-4 with a run batted in in the second game.
Photo: Bees reliever Jake Jakubowski throws in the top of the 10th inning of the 5-4 win over Quincy on Monday night. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
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