HOOTS 17, BEES 9: Too Many Errors, Too Many Mistakes

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

It was a hard game to watch.

The Burlington Bees’ 17-9 loss to the O’Fallon Hoots in Tuesday’s Prospect League game at Community Field was a struggle from the beginning.

The Hoots scored in every inning except the final two. The Bees committed five errors, had six wild pitches, and hit five O’Fallon batters.

“It’s pretty hard,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said when asked how he got through a game like that. “Our pitching was pretty bad today. Defense was bad too — every error we make, it seems we give up on a run on it. It’s pretty defeating to feel like that. It’s not a good feeling. It’s not enjoyable to watch games like that, it’s not enjoyable to be a part of games like that.

“It was just a bad game.”

It came after a crisp 7-4 win over Normal on Monday night, which led to even more frustration.

The Bees are tied for fourth in the league with 32 errors, a number that Oreskovich said has to change.

“It’s very concerning,” he said. “It’s getting to the point where it’s getting concerning. Routine plays, we’ve got to make them. There’s no excuse for it. I mean, you get a bad hop once in a while, I understand that. But there’s no excuse for some of the plays.”

The Bees almost matched O’Fallon run for run early — the Hoots led 6-5 after 2 innings. But O’Fallon kept adding runs, and seemed to be poised to win the game by the 10-run rule before the Bees got three runs in the sixth to cut the lead to 15-9.

Burlington had 12 hits. Merrick Mathews had three hits and drove in three runs. Boston Halloran had three hits and Jackson Reid had two.

“We scored nine runs,” Oreskovich said. “You should win a game scoring nine runs.”

Bees starting pitcher Jackson Wohlers gave up six runs in two innings. Kyle Looper gave up five runs in two innings. Vinny Mauro gave up six runs in three innings.

Erik Kiewiet then closed the game for the Bees with two scoreless innings.

“Kiewiet was really good the last two innings,” Oreskovich said.

Photo: Bees right fielder Scotty Savage (24) scores on a wild pitch in the sixth inning. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)