By John Bohnenkamp

Gary McClure thought his team gave one away on Thursday night.

The Burlington Bees’ 10-8 loss to the Clinton LumberKings in a Prospect League game at Community Field bothered their manager, because of what his team didn’t do.

Bees pitchers allowed seven walks and the defense committed two errors that led to three unearned runs.

A five-run sixth inning by the LumberKings (8-5) gave them control, and then two runs in the top of the ninth killed any momentum the Bees had after a two-run seventh inning closed their deficit to 8-7.

The walks and errors were just too consuming.

“When that happens, you put yourself in a situation to fail, and that’s what happened,” McClure said. “Both innings that they had multiple runs, we didn’t make a play we should have made. We’re out of both those innings with maybe one run. The bottom line is to win at baseball at a high level, you’ve got to pitch and you’ve got to play defense. When you do that, you have a chance to win every night.”

The game was tied at 5 in the sixth when Bees reliever Grady Gorgen thought he had struck out Luke Ira with the bases loaded to end the inning. Gorgen and some of the Bees started to walk off the field, but plate umpire Josh Barnes had called the pitch a ball. Ira, hitting .440 for the season, then pounded a double into right field that cleared the bases.

The Bees got to within 8-7 in the seventh on Marcos Sanchez’s ground-rule double that bounced over the center-field wall. Had the ball stayed in the ballpark. Zane Zielinski likely would have scored to tie the game. Instead, Zielinski had to go back to third base. Clinton reliever Casey Perrenoud got Brady Jurgella on a popout and Reid Halfacre on a grounder to Ira at shortstop to end the inning.

Clinton’s Max Holy walked to open the ninth inning and moved to second on a grounder to shortstop by Justin Conant. Pinch-hitter Jay Beshears hit a grounder back to Bees pitcher Jackson Gray, who threw to third base to try to get Holy, who was attempting to advance on the play. But Gray’s throw got past third baseman Mason Land, and Holy was able to score. An RBI double by Skyler Luna with two outs put Clinton up 10-8.

“I don’t know how many earned runs they had tonight,” McClure said. “They certainly didn’t have as many as were on the board. You’ve got to play defense — it’s something you can control and do every day, doing routine things.”

Jackson Jones hit a long home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth, but that would be the last of Bees’ 10 hits.

Clinton starter Matt Scherrman (3-0) was the winning pitcher. Gorgen (0-1) took the loss.

“Obviously if you don’t pitch and you give up free baserunners, you’re going to get beat,” McClure said. “You just can’t give free runs away. There’s no time clock. You’ve got to get them out. You’re just beating yourself when you do that.”

STREAKS: Zielinski extended his hitting streak to nine games. Sanchez and designated hitter Marcos Sanchez extended their hitting streaks to eight games. Bees first baseman Austin Simpson, who hit a 420-foot two-run home run in the fourth inning, has hit in four consecutive games.

UP NEXT: The Bees play at Normal on Friday and at O’Fallon on Saturday before returning home for a 2 p.m. game Sunday against Clinton.

Photo: Clinton’s Skyler Luna is called out at third base after trying to stretch a ninth-inning hit into a triple in Thursday’s game against the Burlington Bees. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

Gary McClure knew three things had to happen as Ben Nippolt’s fly ball was dying in short right field.

The game was tied in the 12th inning, the bases were loaded, and there was one out.

So McClure, the Burlington Bees manager who was coaching third base, thought baserunner Chase Honeycutt, standing to his left, had to try to score.

“There was a doubt,” McClure said. “But I figured everything was on the line, everything was wild right now. I make them catch it, I make them throw it, and catch it again. That’s my thought.”

Alton River Dragons right fielder Blake Burris made the catch. He made what looked to be a perfect throw.

Catcher Bryce Zupan, though, didn’t catch the throw, and Honeycutt stepped over Zupan’s failed glove and touched home plate to give the Bees a 7-6 win on Tuesday night at Community Field.

“If he gets thrown out, I’m the goat,” McClure said. “Instead, we win the ballgame, which is all that matters.”

The Bees (7-4) snapped out of a two-game funk and are a 1/2-game behind the Normal Cornbelters in the Prospect League’s West-Great River Division. 

Honeycutt knew what McClure wanted.

“He said, ‘Tag up and go.’ I was ready. I said, ‘I’m going,’” Honeycutt said. “When I saw it come in, I thought I’ve either got to run him over, or make a play. And then he just dropped it and missed it.”

“I thought he was going to be out by a mile,” McClure said. “He shouldn’t have went, there’s no doubt. But I wanted them to make the play. Sometimes when everything is wild as they were at that point, things work out.”

A baserunning decision by Honeycutt early in the inning got things going. He was hit by a pitch from Geoff Withers (0-1) with one out, and when Marcos Sanchez singled to center field, Honeycutt raced to third, beating the throw from Harry Padden.

“When I was at first, I was thinking that if anything gets through the infield, I’m going,” Honeycutt said. “The grass is thick out there, and we’re in the 12th inning and they were tired. So I made them throw it, and luckily I got there in time.”

Sanchez moved to second on defensive indifference with Nathan Ebersole at the plate. Ebersole was then intentionally walked, bringing Nippolt up for the game-winning sacrifice fly. 

The Bees trailed 5-0 after the first two innings, and 6-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. They scored four runs with two outs in the eighth, capped by Jackson Jones’ two-run home run, then tied the game in the ninth when Nippolt scored on a fielder’s choice.

“That’s how this team is,” Honeycutt said. “No matter what inning, we’ll put up runs.”

Bees starting pitcher Garrett Moltzan lasted just 1 2/3 innings, but relievers Jackson Gray, Tom King and Garrett Langrell (2-0) held the River Dragons to just one run the rest of the game.

King pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, while Langrell allowed one hit and struck out two in the last three innings.

“To come in and get the job we got relief-wise, that’s outstanding,” McClure said. “Take your hats off to those guys. Gray, Langrell and King, they all did a great job.”

Photo: Chase Honeycutt (12) scores the winning run after Alton catcher Bryce Zupan dropped the throw in the 12th inning. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

It is a relentless offense for the Burlington Bees to open the season.

Friday’s 14-6 win over the O’Fallon Hoots at Community Field was the sixth consecutive for the Bees (6-2), who maintained their one-game lead in the Prospect League’s West-Great River Division.

Burlington had 17 hits, but only two were for extra bases.

“Everyone took quality at-bats, did really well,” said center fielder Lincoln Riley, who had four hits and drove in three runs at the top of the lineup, boosting his season average to .400. “Just kind of carried it throughout the game.”

Every Bee had at least one hit, and Burlington ended the night with seven players in its lineup hitting .300 or better, with three hitters at .400 or better. The Bees are hitting .318 as a team.

“We’re a strong offense,” Riley said. “We’re dangerous, we’re really good. It’s early, too — we’ve got a lot of games left and I’m excited to see what we can do.”

The Bees trailed 5-3 before scoring 11 runs in their final four innings on offense.

“We kept getting baserunners, putting pressure on their defense,” Bees manager Gary McClure said. “We continually had baserunners and put pressure on. Our guys have done a great job of just putting pressure on throughout the game, and adding runs when we do get in the lead.”

“No one’s nervous when we’re down,” Riley said. “It shows what kind of players we are, how hard we can fight back. It doesn’t matter if we’re down one run or 10 runs, we’re going to play to the ninth inning.”

Riley had an RBI single in the second inning, a single in the sixth, a two-run double in the seventh, and a single in the eighth.

“That was big,” McClure said of Riley, who is going to Eastern Illinois University next season after playing at Southeastern Community College. “He got on base, drove in runs, he just had really good at-bats tonight. He made an adjustment from the other night (he was 0-for-3 in Wednesday’s win at Alton), he didn’t have a great night. But he made adjustments and hit the ball well tonight.”

Austin Simpson had three hits and scored three runs for the Bees. Reid Halfacre, at the bottom of the Bees’ lineup, scored four times.

Tom King (1-0) was the winning pitcher in relief, throwing two scoreless innings. Brady Walker (0-2) was the losing pitcher.

NOTES: Bees third baseman Mason Land, who is heading to Auburn next season, drove in three runs, all on sacrifice flies to right field in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Land went 1-for-3. “He didn’t have many at-bats to count tonight but he had some RBIs,” McClure quipped. … Bees reliever Jacob Greenan, who had given up six runs in two appearances, pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, striking out one. “It was good to see him throw strikes the way he did,” McClure said of Greenan, who plays at Western Illinois University. “He’s got an electric arm.”

UP NEXT: Burlington has a two-game weekend road trip, playing at Springfield (4-3) on Saturday and Normal (4-3) on Sunday.

Photo: Burlington Bees center fielder Lincoln Riley drives in a run in the second inning. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

It was an inning Jackson Gray knew his grandfather would have appreciated.

Gray, a left-handed pitcher who had just joined his hometown Burlington Bees, pitched a scoreless eighth inning in the 7-3 win over the Alton River Dragons on Thursday night at Community Field.

Gray, who graduated from Notre Dame High School and played at nearby Carl Sandburg College and Western Illinois University, heard the cheers from family members as he walked off the field after facing four batters in the inning.

It was an emotional moment for a player who grew up coming to games at the ballpark with his father, Tom, and his grandfather, Ed Larson, who served as the Burlington Baseball Association’s president and then later served as Midwest League president for one year and vice-president for 30. Larson died during the 2019 season, in what turned out to be Bees’ last season in the Class A minor league.

“It was a lot of fun, a lot of memories because of my grandpa,” Gray said. “I had a lot of family here — I could hear them screaming, cheering. I know it meant a lot to them. It meant so much to me. I can’t explain the emotions going through my mind on that first pitch.”

Gray was a senior at Western Illinois this season, going 1-1 with an 8.25 earned run average in 11 games.

“It’s going to be my last year in baseball, so it’s good to end it in a Burlington Bees uniform,” he said.

Gray smiled as he recalled what it was like when he saw that uniform for the first time.

“Oh, beautiful,” he said. “Snazzy.”

Gray struck out Clayton Dean to open the inning, then hit Adam Stilts with a pitch. Gray then picked off Stilts at first before giving up a double to Bryce Zupan that left fielder Marcos Sanchez lost in the night sky. He then got Gabe Briones on a grounder that second baseman Zane Zielinski snagged with a dive, throwing out Briones by a step at first.

“He threw the ball extremely well,” Bees manager Gary McClure said of Gray. “I liked what I saw. He’s going to help our club a lot from the left side.”

Gray signed with the team on Wednesday.

“(McClure) wanted me to come play,” Gray said. “I was like, ‘That’s perfect. A perfect fit.’”

“It’s a great thing,” McClure said. “The more kids we can get from Iowa, and locally, it just attracts more attention to our ball club. That’s something, as long as I’m coaching here, we’re going to continue to do.”

The Bees (5-2) won their fifth consecutive game to take sole possession of first place in the Prospect League’s West-Great River Division.

Burlington got seven innings from starter McLain Harris (2-0), who gave up six hits and struck out eight. Reece Wissinger, another Burlington native, struck out the side in the ninth for his second save.

“(Harris) did well tonight,” McClure said. “They dropped a few in, blooped a few in, got some runs early. But he really got better, I thought, as the game went along. He got sharper and sharper, and did a great job. (Wissinger is) a great guy to have at the end of the ball game.”

The Bees rallied from a 3-0 deficit with a four-run fourth inning. Jackson Jones and Zielinski had run-scoring doubles, and Reid Halfacre and Sanchez drove in runs with singles.

Mason Land had a solo home run as the Bees got two in the fifth. Burlington closed the scoring in the eighth on Halfacre’s RBI single.

Gray threw 13 pitches in the eighth, every one carrying the emotion of the moment.

“I was able to go out there and compete,” he said. “Being able to compete makes it a lot more fun.”

Photo: Burlington Bees left-hander Jackson Gray pitches in the eighth inning of Thursday’s game against the Alton River Dragons at Community Field. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

They came to see the new show.

It was Opening Night at Community Field on Sunday for the new edition of the Burlington Bees.

The line to get tickets stretched to the end of the parking lot at one point. The final attendance total — 2,097.

It had been 21 months — 639 days — since a Bees team had played here.

It was a different world on Aug. 30, 2019, when the Bees lost to the Clinton LumberKings 6-3. No one knew it at the time — although certainly the rumblings were beginning — but it would be the last time a Burlington team would be a Major League Baseball affiliate.

In the time since then, the COVID-19 pandemic ended the 2020 Midwest League season before it could begin. It had become clear that winter that MLB’s plan to contract Minor League Baseball to 120 teams would include the Bees — it also took fellow Midwest League teams Clinton and Kane County — and once the season was canceled it robbed the fan base, and the community, of a chance to say goodbye to something that had been part of the city for more than a century.

So, they came on Sunday night to say hello to the new Bees, now members of the Prospect League, a summer league of college players who would be spending the next couple of months getting a taste of what life in the minors would be should they get that far.

It certainly was a performance. The Bees came back from an eight-run deficit to win 15-9, and there was an appreciation for the atmosphere created by the near-capacity crowd.

“It was pretty electric,” designated hitter Austin Simpson said. “That’s all I can say. It was pretty awesome.”

Simpson had been in those grandstands many times before. He grew up in nearby Fairfield, and he remembered coming to games.

Now he was a player.

“It was a pretty fun experience to be here and be in a Bees uniform,” Simpson said.

Bees manager Gary McClure, a southeast Iowa native, also came to plenty of games when he was younger. His son, Alex, played for the team in 2010 when it was affiliated with the Kansas City Royals.

So McClure said he was “a little embarrassed” when a couple of defensive mistakes opened the way for Clinton to build a 9-1 lead after 3 1/2 innings. He knew the importance of the game, not just for his team, but also for a fan base who came to see a new level of baseball.

“We’ve got 3,000 people, or whatever we had, we’ve got a great crowd,” he said. “You want to show those people something so they’ll come back. We kicked the ball around a little bit. They didn’t get a lot of earned runs.

“But hey, we came out and started swinging the bats.”

The Bees got six runs in the bottom of the inning. They would bat around twice in the game, and after building a comfortable lead going into the ninth inning, closed the game behind reliever Reece Wissinger, a Burlington High School graduate who, like Simpson, grew up coming to games at the ballpark.

They heard the roar on the final out in an old ballpark that had regained its baseball articulation after so many months of silence.

There was uncertainty back in December, when MLB made the contraction official. The Bees organization found a league, found players.

The fan base found the team again. A summer of baseball, one that was missed in 2020, was ahead.

“I think it was tremendous. They were fired up,” McClure said. “That many people to come out to the ballgame to support you, it’s great.

“I just wanted give them something to come back for.”

Photo: Burlington Bees shortstop Mason Land doubles during Sunday’s game at Community Field. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

The comeback had to start with the bullpen.

What the Burlington Bees got from their relievers in the final five innings of Sunday’s Prospect League home opener against the Clinton LumberKings was nothing but zeros.

What they then got from their offense was plenty of runs.

The Bees rallied from an early eight-run deficit to take a 15-9 win in front of a crowd of 2,097 at Community Field.

Burlington trailed 9-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth innings, but relievers Tom King, Garrett Langrell and Reece Wissinger combined to shut out the LumberKings for the rest of the game.

“I was really proud of our bullpen,” Bees manager Gary McClure said. “To put up five zeros … you’ve got to put up zeros if you want to come back, get the momentum. And we were able to do that.”

“(Coming back from) 9-1, that’s just grinding,” said designated hitter Austin Simpson, who drove in three runs, including the first one in a five-run eighth inning, one of two innings in which the Bees batted around.”

The Bees’ defense was shaky in those first four innings. Starter Marcos Sanchez gave up eight runs — seven of those were earned — and King gave up a run.

But King retired the side in the fifth, Langrell (1-0) pitched out of a sixth-inning jam and struck out four over 2 2/3 innings, then Wissinger closed the game by striking out three in 1 1/3 innings.

“You just don’t win games when you come back if your bullpen doesn’t do the job,” McClure said.

The Bees responded with six runs in the bottom of the fourth. Simpson drove in two runs with a single, and Mason Land, who had four hits and drove in four runs in the game, doubled home two runs.

“Once we get to 9-6, it’s a ballgame again,” McClure said. “And then we made it 9-7.”

The Bees tied the game in the fifth on Lincoln Riley’s two-run double, then took the lead in the sixth when Chase Honeycutt’s single scored Land.

“Pitchers came in, did their job,” Simpson said. “And we made some plays down the stretch, got some hits, big hits, took some walks.”

Clinton manager Jack Dahm was digging through his bullpen trying to find someone to get outs. Cam Anfang gave up three runs in 2 1/3 innings. Hunter Marso gave up three runs in 1 2/3 innings. Tyler Stern gave up two runs without recording an out.

STREAKING: Burlington’s Kevin Santiago extending his hitting streak to four games with a first-inning RBI single. Santiago is hitting .333 to open the season. … Bees third baseman Ben Nippolt had his three-game hitting streak snapped.

UP NEXT: The Bees (2-2) and LumberKings (3-1) play a 2 p.m. game in Clinton on Monday.

Photo: Burlington Bees reliever Reece Wissinger throws the final pitch in Sunday’s 15-9 win over Clinton. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)