By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
There has to be a big hit somewhere in the bats of the Burlington Bees.
It’s something manager Owen Oreskovich has been wanting to see from his offense, but it hasn’t quite happened yet.
Sure, there was the walk-off home run by Merrick Mathews in last Sunday’s win over Illinois Valley, and the Bees did score seven runs in Wednesday’s loss at Illinois Valley.
But the 5-3 loss to the Jackson Rockabillys in Friday’s Prospect League game at Community Field was another source of frustration for Oreskovich.
“Our pitching right now is good enough to win,” Oreskovich said. “They’re giving us a chance. We’re not doing anything with any of our opportunities. We’re cold at the plate right now. We just need someone to step up with a big hit. Hitting is contagious, and once I think we get that I think it starts rolling. I’ve seen that plenty of times.”
The Bees (2-6) had just five hits and left seven runners on base. They had runners in scoring position in four innings and couldn’t get them in.
“The balls we’re hitting hard seem to be right at someone,” Oreskovich said. “It just seems like the ball is not falling our way right now.”
If there was something positive, the Bees were putting the ball in play, a night after they had 14 strikeouts in a 6-3 loss to Illinois Valley.
“I truly think once we get that big pop, something will start rolling.”
The Bees trailed 4-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning, then slowly carved out some runs.
Mathews’ RBI single in the third was Burlington’s first hit of the game. Cooper Donlin’s run-scoring single in the fifth inning cut the lead to 4-2, then Skyler Agnew’s triple in the eighth scored Donlin to get the Bees within 4-3.
Jackson (7-2) got an unearned run in the ninth inning for the final margin.
Oreskovich liked what he got out of relievers Joe Evans and Chase Golden. Evans allowed just one unearned run over 4 ⅓ innings, and Golden struck out two of the three hitters he faced in the ninth.
“Joe has just been really good for us, and Chase looked like he did from the middle of last season through the end of the year,” Oreskovich said. “The pitching is there. We’re just not giving them any help.”
Jace Figuereo, batting in the leadoff spot in his first game this season, had two hits for the Bees.
“I really like him at the top of the order,” Oreskovich said.
Matt Maloney (2-0) was the winning pitcher.
Photo: Jace Figuereo had two hits in the leadoff spot for the Bees. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
Baseball at The Hive 