By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
It was one of those games the Burlington Bees would have liked to have seen gone the distance.
Instead, the Bees opened the second half of the Prospect League season with a 4-2 loss in six innings to the O’Fallon Hoots on Tuesday at Community Field.
The second half is a clean slate for the Bees, who had some momentum after Sunday’s 2-0 win over Springfield that ended the team’s 12-game losing streak.
And they had some momentum in this game, coming back from an early 3-0 deficit. But lightning from nearby thunderstorms forced the game to be suspended before the top of the seventh inning could start, and the ensuing heavy rain washed out the rest of the night.
It was a competitive game, something the Bees didn’t have much of on their last time at home, when they gave up 62 runs in four losses before going on the road for a six-game trip to end the half.
The Bees had seven hits, including two from Landon Akers and Merrick Mathews. Cooper Donlin extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a third-inning single.
Burlington scored its first run in the third inning when Mathews’ single to left field scored Akers. Jackson Lindquist’s double off the left-field wall scored Mathews in the sixth inning.
But the Bees squandered some other scoring chances, leaving two runners on base in four of the first five innings
Burlington also got solid pitching from starter Noah Harbin (0-3) and reliever Michael Schaul. Harbin gave up two earned runs in five innings, then Schaul pitched a perfect sixth inning with two strikeouts.
Photo: Burlington’s Landon Akers is greeted at third base by manager Owen Oreskovich after stealing the base in the third inning. (John Lovretta/bees-blog.com)
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