By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
There is always a get-acquainted period with a pitching staff at the beginning of the season, and Burlington Bees manager Owen Oreskovich knows that.
What he wanted his pitchers to know after Thursday’s 8-2 loss to the O’Fallon Hoots in a Prospect League game at Community Field was that walks and stolen bases are unacceptable.
The eight walks and nine stolen bases the Hoots had were not a recipe for success.
“I’d say it’s a good lesson,” Oreskovich said. “Some of these pitchers, they’ve got some things to learn. Be a little bit quicker to the plate. Commanding the strike zone, especially early in the count — it’s easy to hit when it’s 3-0, 2-1, all the time. You’ve got to get strike one, get ahead early.
“(The stolen bases) were absolute killers. We’ve got to be quick to the plate, work guys more on (pickoffs). Yeah, we’ve got some work to do.”
Oreskovich hasn’t had much time to get to know the pitching staff he put together. Players arrived in Burlington on Sunday and only had a couple of workouts before Tuesday’s season opener at Clinton.
“A lot of these guys, I’ve only seen throw once,” he said. “So it’s going to take at least a week, maybe two weeks, for them to get comfortable. They’ve never thrown to some of these catchers before. Yeah, the first couple of weeks it takes time for everyone to get to know each other, get on the same page.
“But you’ve got to work around it. It’s adversity you have to deal with, and you’ve got to keep working.”
O’Fallon (1-2) clogged the bases throughout the night. Bees starting pitcher Jacob Zahner (0-1) had the only 1-2-3 inning of the night in the third inning, and the rest of the time, it seemed, there was always a Hoot somewhere.
Oreskovich liked what he saw out of his first two pitchers. Zahner allowed only one earned run in four innings. Zach Leuschen allowed just one run in two innings.
“After the first inning, (Zahner) kind of settled in there a little bit,” Oreskovich said. “Leuschen did a good job, too.”
Still, O’Fallon didn’t get control of the game until a three-run outburst in the ninth inning. The Bees had runners in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings and couldn’t score.
“We couldn’t get a timely hit,” Oreskovich said. “We only had a couple of strikeouts through the first seven innings. We were putting the bat on the ball. Late (in the game) is when it matters when you’re down, and we’ve got to do a better job of getting ahead in the count.”
The Bees (1-1) didn’t get their first hit until Christian Dunn’s single in the fifth inning. Scotty Savage’s solo home run in the sixth inning was Burlington’s only extra-base hit.
“We were aggressive early in the count in the first six innings, they were just at-’em balls,” Oreskovich said. “Couldn’t find a hole.”
The Bees play at O’Fallon on Friday and Saturday before coming home to face Illinois Valley on Sunday.
“It’s still early,” Oreskovich said. “We’ve just got to keep working.”
Photo: Scotty Savage (right) is greeted at home plate by teammate Merrick Mathews after hitting a solo home run in the sixth inning of Thursday’s game. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
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