By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
It was a game the Burlington Bees had control of until they didn’t.
Alton scored four runs over the final two innings — three in the ninth — to take a 7-4 win in Tuesday’s rain-delayed Prospect League game at Community Field.
The Bees (2-4 second half) led 4-3 going into the eighth inning before a costly throwing error allowed the River Dragons (3-3) to tie the game. Then Alton broke the game open in the ninth, getting all of their runs after two were out.
What was frustrating for Bees manager Owen Oreskovich was how the River Dragons got their runs.
Reliever Chase Golden had pitched three shutout innings and had gotten one out in the eighth when Alton’s Joe Connolly singled to center field. But an attempt to throw out Connolly, who had made a wide turn, at first base went sailing away, allowing Connolly to move to second base. Connolly then scored on Justin Santoyo’s single.
“I thought Goldie was great,” Oreskovich said. “If we don’t throw the ball away trying to make a play after it’s wet, I think it’s a different inning. Those at-bats are different, those pitches are different. Maybe we get (a double play) and get out of there with the lead.”
Then came a stormy ninth inning which saw two ejections before the River Dragons put together their rally.
Left fielder R.J. LaRocco struck out to open the inning and argued with home plate umpire Dana Wilson, who threw LaRocco out of the game. Just two pitches into Zane Timon’s at bat, first-base coach Kurt Russell was ejected by base umpire Sam Hufnagle.
Timon struck out for the second out, then pinch-hitter Cole Schrank singled. Cooper Howell walked, then Connolly singled to load the bases. Duncan hit Santoyo in the ankle with a pitch to bring in pinch-runner Dane Stevenson, then Erik Broekemeier’s two-run single capped the scoring.
The Bees loaded the bases in the ninth inning against Carter Hunt, but Merrick Mathews was called out on strikes and Cedric Dunnwald popped out to first to end the game.
“We’ve got to get a hit there,” Oreskovich said. “You get a run there, and their pitcher gets even more rattled, then who knows what happens from there.”
The Bees fell behind 3-0 in the first inning. Howell reached on an error, advanced to second on Connolly’s ground out, stole third base, then scored on a fielder’s choice. Preston Wright then added a two-run single.
Bees starter Jackson Wohlers settled in after that, pitching three shutout innings.
Burlington got two runs back in the fourth inning on Dunnwald’s single that scored Keanu Spenser and Cooper Donlin.
Wohlers would have come out for the fifth inning, but heavy rain hit the ballpark as soon as the fourth inning ended, leading to a rain delay of 1 hour, 13 minutes.
“I had no problem putting him back out there,” Oreskovich said. “He was pitching well, and he could have given us at least one more inning.”
Scott Detweiler (2-1) was the winning pitcher. Duncan (1-2) took the loss.
Photo: Burlington Bees first baseman Merrick Mathews waits for the throw as Alton’s Cooper Howell races down the line in the second inning. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
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