By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
It was one of those anything-that-could-go-wrong-did road trips for the Burlington Bees.
It may have set the tone for the rest of the Prospect League season.
The Bees were back at Community Field for Tuesday’s Kids’ Day afternoon game against the Clinton LumberKings, and after a challenge from manager Owen Oreskovich responded with an 8-7 come-from-behind win.
The Bees (3-4) trailed 6-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, then scored five runs in that inning before adding three runs in the seventh.
Burlington went 1-4 on a road trip that took them to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and then a stop for one game in Normal, Illinois. The number of things that went wrong are too numerous to mention, but it was enough to bond a team in its first week together.
“One of the things I learned was we got a lot closer,” Oreskovich said. “Our dugout acts like a team that’s been together a lot longer than a week and a half. Today I learned if you challenge them a little bit, they can take it, which is really good. Sometimes you don’t see that in the summer.”
That challenge came after a three-run third inning in which Clinton (3-4) scored all of its runs without a hit, and a three-run fifth in which the Lumberkings sent nine batters to the plate.
“I kind of got into them a little bit in the dugout,” Oreskovich said. “Kind of challenged their toughness a little bit. Wanted to see more out of them. I thought we needed to be a little tougher. It took an inning for that to come into effect.”
The Bees’ sixth inning started with back-to-back singles from Troy Peltz and Lucas Krebs. Milo Kelley loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch with one out. Adam Kudronowicz followed with a single to drive in Peltz.
“They really looked like they got locked in there,” Oreskovich said of how his team responded to his challenge. “They played tough and hard the rest of the game. Troy’s (hit) fell, and then Krebs’ (hit) fell. I think we needed to see that. We didn’t get much of that the last two games (of the road trip).”
Foti Rigopoulos was hit by a pitch to bring in the second run. Juan Fernandez followed with a two-run single and Tanner Reinartz followed with an RBI single, and the Bees trailed 6-5.
Kudronowicz’s one-out double in the seventh inning tied the game, then Kole Sonnenberg drove in two runs with a single to give the Bees an 8-6 lead.
Clinton got a run back in the ninth on Jackson Mishler’s solo home run to left field, but Bees reliever Jake Weissenberger retired the next three hitters to secure the win and pick up his first save of the season.
Quentin Holmes (1-0) was the winning pitcher after throwing 2 ⅓ shutout innings. Connor Diiulio (0-1) took the loss.
The two teams play again at Community Field in Wednesday’s 6:30 p.m. game.
Photo: Burlington’s Troy Peltz steals second base in the fourth inning of Tuesday’s game at Community Field. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
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