By John Bohnenkamp

Ben Tallman took half of a home-run trot.

The Burlington Bees’ catcher made sure to touch first base and second base as his deep fly ball to left field settled into the glove of Alton’s Troy Johnson.

As Tallman cut his trot short, he motioned to the sky and the wind blowing in from left field that knocked down his fly ball.

It was that kind of day, again, for the Bees in Sunday’s 6-2 loss to the Alton River Dragons in a Prospect League game at Community Field.

The Bees (18-29 overall, 7-9 second half), who have lost four consecutive games, fell three games behind the Normal CornBelters in the Great River Division second-half standings heading into Monday’s game between the two teams at Community Field.

The Bees put the ball into play all day against the River Dragons, only striking out twice. But getting those hits to fall was a different matter.

“I thought we hit some balls really well,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “Just right at some guys.”

Tallman’s ball, one of the hardest-hit ones of day by the Bees, died in the wind that emerged from the northwest early in the game.

“The wind didn’t do us any favors,” Oreskovich said. “That ball Benny hit was hit pretty well. That ball’s leaving on a normal day.

“The score of that game doesn’t dictate how I felt about the game.”

The Bees got a strong first five innings out of starter Jared Townsend (1-5), who walked two and struck out six. But Townsend, who gave up one hit and one run through those early innings, gave up three runs in the sixth inning as Alton (25-23, 7-9 Prairie Land Division) second half rallied to take a 4-2 lead.

“I thought Townsend was amazing,” Oreskovich said. “I thought this was one of his best starts that he’s had this summer. He just had that one tough inning, where he gave up four hits to five batters. They just got some balls to fall, and we didn’t get balls to fall for us.”

The Bees had six hits, but left nine baserunners.

“I thought we had a good approach at the plate,” Oreskovich said. “Overall, I thought it was a good game for us. We just didn’t win. No one would realize that if you weren’t here watching the game.

“I can’t say we were striking out with guys in scoring position. We were hitting the ball.”

Ryan Grace had two hits and drove in two runs for the Bees. Kevin Santiago also had two hits.

Alex Redman (1-0) was the winning pitcher for Alton.

Photo: Bees shortstop Charlie Terrill throws to first in Sunday’s game. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

Lincoln Riley’s eighth-inning line drive seemed ticketed for center field, but instead in landed in the glove of well-positioned Alton shortstop Robby Taul.

Taul seemed to be in the right place at the right time in the final two innings of the Burlington Bees’ 5-3 loss to the Alton River Dragons in Saturday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.

The Bees (18-28 overall, 7-8 second half), who started the week in first place in the Great River Division, lost their third consecutive game, falling 2 1/2 games behind the Normal CornBelters, who are on a six-game winning streak.

The comeback magic that the Bees have come up with at times during the season didn’t show up on Saturday night. Riley’s line drive ended an inning in which Burlington had runners on first and third with one out, but couldn’t score. In the ninth, Sam Monroe and Kevin Santiago walked to open the inning, but a strikeout by Marcos Sanchez followed by a double play started by Taul on Mitch Wood’s ground ball ended that threat.

“That seems like the way it was going today,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said of Riley’s line drive.

The Bees did rally from a 5-1 deficit. Alex Brodie’s single drove in Weston Fulk in the fourth inning and Sanchez’s single scored Monroe in the seventh.

Getting those last two runs, though, wasn’t going to happen on this night.

The Bees outhit the River Dragons 9-6 — Sanchez, Brodie and Charlie Terrill each had two hits, but left 11 baserunners.

“I thought we did great in the box today,” Oreskovich said. “We hit balls hard. Had chances to score and didn’t get the big hit. We outhit them, and you should win the ballgame when you outhit them.”

Bees starting pitcher Elijah Green (0-1) allowed just three hits over five innings. He gave up five runs, but only three were earned. Reliever Brady Schiesl pitched four scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out four.

“I thought Eli pitched a hell of a game,” Oreskovich said. “He really competed. And shout out to Schies, he did a great job. He filled it up, and that’s all I ask out of these guys.

“It was just one of those days.”

Photo: Burlington’s Lincoln Riley avoids the tag from Alton’s Ethan Kleinheider on a fifth-inning double. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

A battle for first place awaits the Burlington Bees.

The Bees maintained their half-game lead in the Prospect League’s Great River Division with an 11-4 win over the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes on Wednesday at Community Field.

Burlington (18-25 overall, 7-5 second half) takes a half-game lead into Thursday’s game at Normal (21-22, 7-6). The Bees and CornBelters play four games against each other — two in Normal, two in Burlington — in the final 2 1/2 weeks of the regular season, so this is a race that can go on for a while.

But for Bees manager Owen Oreskovich, it’s about his team doing what it’s been doing during its current four-game winning streak.

“They know. I don’t really talk about that with them, or need them worrying about that,” he said. “It shouldn’t really be a worry. I don’t want them going into that. I want them playing baseball, that’s what they came here to do, so it’s what I want them to do. Go out there and enjoy it.”

There is a confidence with the Bees right now.

“Especially if we, like, get down in a game,” Oreskovich said. “It’s not like it was early in the season, where it was, ‘Here we go again.’ Now it’s, ‘We’re going to get a hit, take a lead here.’”

There was no need to rally in this game. The Bees scored three runs in each of the first two innings, then added five more in the fourth in an inning in which they had just one hit.

Burlington had just six hits in the game, taking advantage of 11 walks by the Lucky Horseshoes (18-26, 6-6).

“We weren’t chasing pitches, and getting to pitches to hit when we did have a chance,” Oreskovich said.

The lead was good enough for Bees starter Garrett Moltzan (2-3), who allowed three runs in five innings.

“It made it a lot easier,” Oreskovich said of the fast start. “It allows G-Mo to go out there and relax, the position players go out there and relax.”

Marcos Sanchez had three hits and drove in two runs for the Bees. Nolan Elmore also drove in two runs.

ON DECK: Paolo Zavala (0-5, 9.59 ERA) starts for the Bees in Thursday’s game.

NOTES: Bees right fielder A.J. Henkle is hitting .429 over his last five games. Henkle was 1-for-3 on Wednesday. … Center fielder Lincoln Riley reached base four times in the first four innings. 

Photo: Bees left fielder Sam Monroe makes a running catch to end the first inning. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

A.J. Henkle’s two-run home run helped wake up the Burlington Bees.

The home run started a five-run sixth inning, and the Bees held on for a 9-8 win over the Clinton LumberKings in Tuesday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.

The win puts the Bees (17-25 overall, 6-5 second half) all alone in first place in the Great River Division and extended their winning streak to three games.

The Bees had been held to three hits over the first five innings and trailed 6-2 when Henkle’s one-out home run drifted over the left-field wall.

“I mean, Henkle’s home run kind of really gets you going there,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “Then you make it 6-4, and guys look up at the scoreboard and they’re, ‘OK, we’re right there.’ And you’re not chasing (a four-run deficit).

“Henkle had a big swing and that got us going there.”

The Bees got all of the rest of their runs in the inning on two-out hits. Lincoln Riley’s single scored Ben Tallman. Sam Monroe’s single scored Tucker Cole. Then Kevin Santiago’s single scored Riley, and the Bees led 7-6.

“Hunting fastballs, is what I would say,” Oreskovich said when asked to what kept the inning going. “Our guys were hunting fastballs, they got good pitches to hit, they were on time getting the barrel to it and hitting it hard. That’s all I ask these guys to do every day, and it was going our way.”

The Bees got two more runs in the seventh. Tallman’s triple to deep center field scored Ryan Grace, then Tallman scored on Dawson Estep’s single.

Burlington would need all of those runs in the ninth. Clinton (19-24, 4-8) scored two runs on bases-loaded walks, but Kyle Maurer got Matt Scherrman to ground into a force play to end the game.

“I always tell these guys we want to add on when we get a lead,” Oreskovich said. “Getting two more to make it 9-6. Wish we could have added another there in the bottom of the eighth (when Santiago reached base on a one-out error). Getting those two, obviously, helped a lot.”

Hamilkar Medina (1-0) was the winning pitcher. Maurer recorded his fifth save. Logan Schmitt (0-1) was the losing pitcher.

ON DECK: The Bees play host to the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes in a 6:30 p.m. game Wednesday.

Top photo: A.J. Henkle follows through on his two-run home run in the sixth inning. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

The rainout of Sunday’s game at Danville gave the Burlington Bees something they weren’t going to have for a while — a day off.

It would have been the fifth game in what was going to be a 20-games-in-20-days stretch for the Bees as they try to get a second-half playoff berth in the Prospect League.

The game isn’t going to be rescheduled — the Bees and Dans don’t play again this season — which could play a factor in the playoff chase. The Bees (15-25 overall, 4-5 second half) are percentage points behind Normal in the Great River Division.

But what helps is a day off when pitching is at such a premium in the closing weeks.

Some pitchers are on either a pitch count or an innings limit after either a lot of work during the college season or no work at all. Other pitchers may not be on a limit, but are tiring after a long college season followed by two months of summer-league play.

And, arms are at a premium at this point of the summer anyway. With so many college leagues going around the nation, everyone is looking for help.

That’s why getting to the end of the season with a pitching staff intact is going to be important in the playoff race.

“I think, truthfully, it will be (important),” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “If you’ve got pitching, if you’ve got good pitchers, if you’ve got more of them than a lot of other people, you’re going to be better off.”

The management of the workload of the Bees’ pitching could be seen last week.

Cauy Massner went seven innings in the 5-1 loss to Springfield on Monday. It was the longest outing by a Bees’ pitcher this season, but Massner threw only 87 pitches, eight under the league’s pitch limit for a game.

Oreskovich used three pitchers in Wednesday’s 5-2 loss at Lafayette. Starter Garrett Moltzan threw 75 pitches in six innings, and relievers Hamilkar Medina and Tucker Cole each threw one inning.

Three pitchers were used in the 4-0 loss to Lafayette on Thursday — Paolo Zavala went five innings, Nick Tampa went one and Jaxon Ingram went two.

Oreskovich used just two pitchers in the 5-4 loss at Terre Haute on Friday — Jared Townsend (5 ⅓ innings) and CJ Lewis (2 ⅔). Trevor McGee (4 ⅓ innings) and Weston Fulk (⅔ of an inning) pitched in Saturday’s rain-shortened 16-5 win at Danville.

The Prospect League has strict pitch-limit rules, but Oreskovich said the key is knowing when a pitcher is ready to come out of a game.

“Because you’re not burning kids, you’re not trying to get something extra out of a kid, like get an extra inning or something,” Oreskovich said. “Like just because he’s not at the pitch count, but he’s gassed. You don’t want to do that to kids. I don’t want to do that to kids. I want to keep them safe, keep them healthy.”

There still could be additions to the Bees’ pitching staff. Any arm would be an asset.

“We have a kid signed to a (temporary) contract, we’re waiting on him to get a flight here,” Oreskovich said. “We’ve got a few other kids in mind who might be coming, might not be coming, we don’t know yet.

“We’re trying to get as much as we can with what we’ve got, but not try to hurt them either. We’re trying to be smart with everything. It’s their career. They’re the ones who have to keep playing the game after this summer. We just have to take care of them, be smart.”

Photo: Hamilkar Medina has been one of the late additions to the Bees’ pitching staff. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

Cauy Massner and Jake Curtis put on a show of pitching efficiency.

Massner, the starter for the Burlington Bees, and Curtis, the starter for the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes, got outs and went deep into Monday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.

Curtis was just a little better.

Springfield’s 5-1 win was done in just 2 hours, 9 minutes, thanks to two pitchers who didn’t mess around.

“It was just a good baseball game, a good old-fashioned baseball game right there,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said.

Massner (0-2) went the longest of any Bees starter this season, throwing 87 pitches — 60 for strikes — in seven innings.

Curtis (1-0) went eight innings, throwing 96 pitches, 67 for strikes. The Prospect League pitch limit is 95, but pitchers are allowed to finish throwing to the hitter they’re facing when they reach that point.

At a time of the season when off-days are rare — the Bees play 20 consecutive games after Tuesday’s day off — the length of a start a pitcher can give can make a difference.

Massner gave up four runs and eight hits, but retired six of the last seven hitters he faced, picking off Payton Pennington for the second out of the seventh when Pennington took off for third base while Massner was getting ready to throw a pitch.

“He might be the first kid we had go seven (innings) this year,” Oreskovich said. “He did a great job. Just left some 0-2 pitches where he shouldn’t have, and they didn’t miss on them. That’s all right, that’s baseball.”

The Lucky Horseshoes (15-21 overall, 3-2 second half) scored a run in the second when Peter Jelenic hit a leadoff triple and scored on Nasir Frederick’s sacrifice fly. Jacob Compton’s two-run double in the third pushed the lead to 3-0.

The Bees (14-22, 3-2) got their only run in the fourth on Marcos Sanchez’s home run, his third in the last two games.

Dayton Nevar’s double scored Compton with Springfield’s fourth run, then the Lucky Horseshoes got a run in the ninth when Johnny Colombo’s single scored Frederick.

Curtis allowed just three hits and struck out two.

“We made contact, they just weren’t falling,” Oreskovich said.

ON DECK: The Bees play at Lafayette in a 6 p.m. game on Wednesday to start a five-game road trip.

Photo: Bees pitcher Cauy Massner went seven innings in Monday’s loss. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

It was an hour before Saturday’s game against the Cape Catfish, but Sam Monroe wasn’t in uniform yet.

He was on the lineup card at the top of the Burlington Bees’ batting order, his customary spot, but there was work to be done before the game

Monroe was there helping as Bees manager Owen Oreskovich and his coaching staff got the playing surface at Community Field ready. Because besides being an outfielder with the team, Monroe is also working as a groundskeeping intern.

Community Field has been his home the last two seasons — in the spring with Southeastern Community College, in the summer with the Bees in the Prospect League. It’s a place that Monroe, who is from Moline, Illinois, considers special.

“I like taking care of the ball field, making sure it looks good,” Monroe said. “Just making sure this place is nice and beautiful.”

Monroe is going to the Missouri University of Science & Technology in the fall — he’ll major in electrical engineering. But he’s enjoying taking care of Community Field, whether it’s an assignment of painting bases or painting the lines on the field.

“It’s not necessarily an internship that pertains to my major,” Monroe said. “But it’s good to keep working, do some labor in the summer.”

Monroe is making some summer money, while also getting housing at SCC, as part of his internship.

“He’s a special kind of human being,” Oreskovich said. “He likes to work. He’s not a kid that’s going to be lazy, sit around. Even if he wasn’t a grounds crew guy, an intern, he would still be the one out there helping.”

“I would be here a couple of hours before the game anyway, just because I like being around the field,” Monroe said. “ If I can lend a helping hand, I would be doing that anyway.”

Monroe is also one of the better leadoff men in the Prospect League. Monroe, who is hitting .264 in 32 games, leads the league with 31 walks. He’s tied for ninth with a .435 on-base percentage, and is tied for 11th with 27 runs scored.

“Having him at the top of the order, with that spark he has, a great eye, the ability to hit, it leads us for the entire game,” Oreskovich said.

Monroe’s consistent approach has helped him all season, and it showed in Friday’s 5-4 comeback win over the Normal CornBelters.

Monroe’s single on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded drove home two runs to get the Bees within 4-3 and when Normal right fielder Wilson Zuck bobbled the ball, Monroe was able to advance to second on the play. One batter later, Chase Honeycutt’s single to left-center field brought in Trey Adams and Monroe with the winning runs.

“Besides the walk-off, his was the best at-bat of the inning,” Oreskovich said, noting how Monroe had barely fouled off the pitch before his single to keep the at-bat going.

“It’s important, moments like those, that you’ve got to take at-bats the same way,” Monroe said. “You approach nobody on with one out in the bottom of the second as you would bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. You focus on what you can pull from the pitcher, stay to your approach, don’t let the moment change what you do in the box.”

Monroe grew up going to Class A Midwest League games in the Quad Cities, so he was familiar with Burlington when the Bees were members of the league.

Playing in what used to be a professional setting is something he appreciates.

“You’re in this ballpark, people ask you for autographs, things like that,” Monroe said. “I think the people here have made it a second home. It feels like I’m living out a dream of playing professional baseball. Pretend for a while it’s what I’m doing, you know?”

“He’s meant everything to our team,” Oreskovich said. “I’ve said this before, but he’s the perfect player for a summer-league team. He comes here, looking to play every day, doing what he can to help.

“He’s an awesome kid. When you talk to him about things that aren’t about baseball, he’s just awesome to talk to, enjoyable to talk to.”

Monroe is looking forward to getting to Missouri S&T. It’s his next home.

“I really liked how they approached the game of baseball,” he said. “It’s hard to find a group of players as it is, but now you have to find players who are going for an engineering degree, which is rare. I think they do a good job with it. And I couldn’t argue with the academics down there. I’m getting into a good baseball program, and getting a good education. So it’s a good situation.”

For now, he’s spending the summer taking care of his current home. And he appreciates it when his teammates lend a hand.

“Guys will come out and help set up batting practice,” Monroe said. “They don’t have to do that. But they see me helping them out, so they’ll help me out. It’s being good teammates, good friends.

“You feel like you’re a professional baseball player, the way the fans treat you here. But at the end of the day, we’re still college baseball players. So we can go out and pull tarp, we can go do things to keep this place looking great.”

Photo: Sam Monroe has played in 32 games for the Burlington Bees this season, but he’s also been working as an intern with the team, helping take care of the field. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

Owen Oreskovich had to piece together a pitching plan on Sunday.

It worked.

Four Burlington Bees pitchers combined to strand 17 Clinton LumberKings in a 12-9 win in the Prospect League game at Community Field.

The Bees (14-21 overall, 3-1 second half) got two home runs from Marcos Sanchez — a two-run homer in the fifth inning and a grand slam in the eighth — and had 17 hits.

But it was the way their pitching got out of numerous jams that proved to be the difference. That’s going to be important, considering that after Tuesday’s off day the Bees have just one day off the final three weeks of the season.

“We’re running a little bit low (on pitching) right now,” Oreskovich said. “We’re trying to save some guys so that you have guys that can pitch on different days.”

Starter Trevor McGee pitched four innings. Jeron Conner (1-0) and Weston Fulk pitched two scoreless innings. Jaxon Ingram pitched the ninth, when Clinton (17-19, 2-3) scored five runs to make the game close.

There was never a clean inning for the Bees, though. McGee stranded seven baserunners, Conner three and Fulk six when he got out of bases-loaded situations in the seventh and eighth.

“We got some big pitches in big situations with the bases loaded,” Oreskovich said.

Sanchez’s fifth-inning home run put the Bees in front, 5-4. Oscar Ponce had a three-run homer in the sixth, then Sanchez added his eighth-inning slam.

Sanchez came into the game batting .163 with one home run. He hit .286 with eight home runs last season.

“That’s the Marcos we saw last year,” Oreskovich said. “When he first got here, his timing wasn’t right. He was a little off. He would be asking me between every inning what was going on. I told him, ‘You’ve just got to feel it.’ He felt it today. He got some pitches to hit, and he didn’t miss them.”

Ponce went 4-for-5 and scored four runs. Sanchez scored three runs, as did Kevin Santiago.

ON DECK: The Bees conclude their four-game homestand with Monday’s 6:30 p.m. game against the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes.

Photo: Marcos Sanchez (15) is greeted at home plate by teammates Oscar Ponce (second from left), Kevin Santiago (second from right) and Jaden Hackbarth after his eighth-inning grand slam. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

Tucker Cole should have been out, but wasn’t.

And that, Burlington Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said, might be a sign that things are starting to bounce his team’s way to start the second half of the Prospect League season.

The Bees’ five-run seventh inning proved to be the difference in a 9-7 win over the Cape Catfish on Saturday night at Community Field.

Burlington (13-21 overall, 2-1 second half, Great River Division) has won back-to-back games with late rallies. This one was odd — the only hit for the Bees in the seventh was Trey Adams’ two-run single — but still was fun to Oreskovich to watch.

“Oh yeah, it was a good one,” Oreskovich said.

The Bees came back from a 6-4 deficit with a seventh inning that featured five walks, an error, a hit batsman, a passed ball that brought in one run and a wild pitch that brought home Cole, even though it didn’t look like he was going to score.

The wild pitch from Cape reliever Ray Schroeder bounced off the concrete backstop and right back to catcher Andrew Sharp, who whirled to throw to Schroeder covering the plate.

Cole was still several steps from the plate, and Oreskovich, coaching from the third-base box, thought it was going to be an easy out.

“Oh my God,” Oreskovich said, laughing. “(Cole) took off, (the pitch) hit the bricks, and I was like, ‘No…'”

But Schroeder couldn’t handle Sharp’s throw. Cole, who had stopped when he thought he was going to be tagged, darted around Schroeder and scored the fifth run of the inning.

“That’s when you get the feeling that something is going your way here,” Oreskovich said.

It proved to be a key run when the Catfish (14-20, 2-1 Prairie Land Division) tried to come back in the ninth. Kyle Maurer, who got his third save of the season, retired the first two hitters before the Catfish loaded the bases with two walks and a single. Cam Careswell scored on a wild pitch, but with runners on second and third Maurer struck out Christopher Hall to end the game.

The Bees won all four games against the Catfish in their season series.

Nick Tampa (1-1) was the winning pitcher.

“Tampa was incredible, but he has been this entire summer,” Oreskovich said. “He’s not a guy that’s going to blow it by you, but he gives his defense a chance. He’s been so good.”

ON DECK: The Bees play host to the Clinton LumberKings in a 2 p.m. game on Sunday.

Photo: Nick Tampa was the winning pitcher for the Bees in Saturday’s 9-7 win over the Cape Catfish. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)