By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
It’s that time of the season in the Prospect League when the haves are putting up a lot of runs against the have-nots.
Case in point — the Burlington Bees’ 21-2 win over the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes on Tuesday night at Community Field.
The Bees, who won their ninth consecutive game and are percentage points out of the second-half lead in the Western Conference’s Northwest Division, have 38 players on their roster heading into their final nine games of the half. The Lucky Horseshoes, 4 1/2 games out of first place in the Eastern Conference’s Central Division, have just 27.
The discrepancy showed as the Bees pounded Springfield pitching, scoring in every inning except the sixth in a game stopped in the seventh inning by the league’s 10-run rule.
Burlington had 20 hits — all but three were singles — and each starter had at least one hit.
“It’s fun and enjoyable to watch,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “You know, I feel like we’ve been hitting like that the last week and a half, two weeks. It’s very exciting to watch.”
The Bees are a half-game better than the Clinton LumberKings in the standings, but Clinton has the edge in percentage points. The LumberKings (12-7 second half, .706) have played five fewer games than the Bees (15-7, .682). The two teams meet Thursday and Friday in Clinton for the final time in the regular season.
“We’ve got to worry about what we’re doing,” Oreskovich said. “We’ve got two against them later this week, so we could worry about what they’re doing then when we’re playing them. We’re just trying to go out there and win every game we can right now and take our approach that we’ve been taking, and run with it. And it seems like it’s been working, so we’re going to stick with the plan.”
The Bees have outscored their opponents 132-52 in the winning streak. They are hitting .344 in that stretch.
They were relentless in this game, sending nine batters to the plate in the first two innings, 10 batters in the third and fourth inning, and 11 in the fifth.
Rowen Bergeron, one of five players to have three hits in this game, drove in six runs. PJ Hamel drove in four runs. Kolt Kurzman and Tate Slagle each drove in three runs — Slagle was the last Burlington starter to get a hit, clearing the bases with a bases-loaded double in the fifth.
“I feel like they’re all locked in,” Oreskovich said. “They’re ‘playing the game’ too, which is a saying I have. Like, you’ve got a guy at second, we might not have to bunt every single time, we’re going to try to hit the ball the right side, and we’re getting some base hits just trying to do that too. The guys are playing the game at the plate right now, and you know, we’re playing really sound baseball.”
Bees starter Braden Vanderheydt (1-0) took advantage of all of the offense and controlled the Lucky Horseshoes, allowing just two hits and two walks over five innings to get the win. Ty Mikkelsen and Brady Richards finished the final two innings.
Photo: Burlington’s Christian Graves scores one of his five runs in Tuesday’s win over Springfield. (Photo by Steve Cirinna)
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