THE MONDAY HIVE: Dunnwald Wants To Add To Championship Feeling

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Cedric Dunnwald is back for his second full season with the Burlington Bees, but this summer he brought a championship feeling with him.

Dunnwald was part of the Mount Mercy team that won the program’s first Heart of America conference tournament championship and the first team to make it to the NAIA national tournament.

It’s a feeling that Dunnwald isn’t about to forget, and it’s one he wants to build on for next season.

“It’s a step I think a lot of people dream of, for sure,” Dunnwald said. “I don’t think I ever thought I would have a conference championship, holding a trophy in my hands. Winning the entire thing, dog-piling after winning the championship, tt’s something very few get to experience. And I think it’s awesome. You want to play more, you want that feeling again. That’s the determination, what you strive for. It was awesome, but I want to do that again. It’s such a good feeling.”

Dunnwald went just 3-of-14 this season for the Mustangs, but he has started the Prospect League season strong for the Bees, leading the team with a .333 batting average after the first week of the season.

It’s Dunnwald’s third season overall with the Bees — he played three games on a temporary deal at the end of the 2022 season — but it’s an opportunity he appreciates.

“My coach always said playing is how you get better,” said Dunnwald, a redshirt junior outfielder from Iowa City. “Whether you hit .500 or .100, seeing pitches is what you need. I think you can only get better. You see top arms from top schools, really good competition overall. Whether you’re playing or not, you get to witness 60 days of baseball. And I think it carries over to the fall. It slows the game down.

“Being able to play every day makes you enjoy it, makes you embrace it. Not a lot of people get to do that. So it definitely is a big plus.”

“That kid works harder than 95, 99 percent of the people I’ve been around,” said Bees manager Owen Oreskovich, who is also one of Dunnwald’s coaches at Mount Mercy. “He lives for the weight room, he lives for eating right, working hard.

“He’s an incredibly hard worker, and he wants to do good, just give his best at anything he does. I couldn’t be more excited to have him here. He only got a few at-bats this year, so I think it will be huge for him.”

Dunnwald hit .239 in 35 games with the Bees last season, but a full summer schedule helped him mature as a player.

“It’s just the summer-ball atmosphere that Coach O puts on,” Dunnwald said. “He lets the guys play. It’s a good atmosphere. When you’re playing 60 games, when you’re giving up your whole summer as a college athlete, you want to make sure it’s fun. We want to win, of course, but you also want to enjoy it. I think he does a really good job with that.”

“It brings a different sort of confidence to them when they get back in the fall,” Oreskovich said. “You can see it’s different than kids who didn’t play in the summer, or play in a league like this. It’s a tough league, and there’s good players all over. It’s good for him to bring that confidence up, and that brings the best out of everyone.”

Dunnwald also knows the relationships he has made are important.

“Our teammates can also be our coaches, so you can get different perspectives,” he said. “Different players from different schools, how they view things. It’s interesting to hear other viewpoints.

“Last two years, I’ve met so many guys that I stay in contact with almost every day. Which is awesome, because you can never have too many friends, too many connections around baseball. And that’s what makes it fun. Hearing their stories, their experiences, why they came here. It’s why we’re in the same spot.”

The confidence that Dunnwald has, though, increased with getting a chance to make a postseason run at Mount Mercy.

“It was amazing,” he said. “We wanted to focus on one thing at a time. It was first making the conference tournament, then winning it. We were able to do both. Our whole thing was, ‘Leave a legacy behind.’ So we wanted to keep pushing and accomplish one goal at a time. Once we made the national tournament, it really felt like we were leaving a legacy.

“We all had a blast. We were super thankful to be there, and I do think it meant a lot to our program. We never had a conference championship, we had never made it to a regional. We did a lot of things that had never been done there. It was really fun to be able to accomplish that. It’s awesome that I’m so young, that I have more years to play there. My plan is to keep that legacy going.”

Photo: Cedric Dunnwald is back for another full season with the Burlington Bees. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

BEES 11, PISTOL SHRIMP 9: Walk-Off Win Starts A New Week

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Joe Evans got the Burlington Bees to a spot where they could win the game.

Merrick Mathews finished the victory.

Mathews’ two-out two-run home run in the 10th inning gave the Bees an 11-9 win over the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp in Sunday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.

The Bees (2-3) snapped a three-game losing streak, coming off a road trip in which they were outscored 19-4 in two losses to the O’Fallon Hoots. They took a wild ride in this one — they rallied from an early 5-1 deficit to take the lead, let that lead get away, tied the game in the eighth inning, squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the ninth inning, then finally finished the win with three runs in the 10th.

“After that road trip, we needed that one pretty bad here,” Oreskovich said. “We got it done.”

The Bees trailed 9-8 in the 10th, but tied the game when Landon Akers’ ground out scored Scotty Savage, who opened the inning at second base under the league’s extra-inning rule.

Cooper Donlin followed with a double, and then advanced to third on a passed ball. But Illinois Valley reliever Anthony Solis (0-1) struck out Cedric Dunnwald for the second out.

Mathews, a junior infielder at Iowa this season, was 0-for-9 with the Bees, 0-for-3 on the day, when he came to the plate.

“I know no one is going to believe this, but I had a feeling he was going to come up with a big hit,” Oreskovich said. “It was just something I had in my head throughout the game. He was on some good pitches earlier in the game.”

Solis missed with a slider to Mathews to open the at-bat. Mathews then pounded a fastball over the left-field fence.

“I was watching the guys in front of me,” Mathews said. “I knew he wasn’t really hitting with his off-speed. He threw me a first-pitch slider that he missed, so I was pretty much dead-red heater after that. I got what I was looking for.”

Mathews was mobbed at home plate as he scored.

“It was pretty cool,” he said. “It was my first walk-off home run, so it was pretty cool.”

“That was huge for him,” Oreskovich said. “It was good to see him come up and get a big hit in a big spot.”

Evans (2-0) has become a reliable reliever for Oreskovich. The left-hander, who was a starter at Morton (Ill.) College this season, has thrown seven innings in two appearances, striking out six and allowing just one earned run.

Evans entered this game in the seventh after Illinois Valley scored three runs to take an 8-7 lead. He allowed just three hits in four innings, striking out three.

“Obviously, when you first get in there, the jitters are there a little bit,” Evans said. “Once I throw that first pitch and get it over with, it’s smooth sailing from there.

“Coming from a junior college, the competition isn’t as great over there. Coming here, going out and throwing strikes and getting ahead, it’s huge. It gave me confidence.”

“That kid is a competitor if I’ve ever seen one,” Oreskovich said. “Phenomenal competitor. He just goes out there and does his thing. That’s what we talked about earlier in the year — being who you are. And that’s who he is. That was huge. That was just as big as everything else.”

The Bees trailed 5-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, but scored six runs to take the lead. Ty Plummer, another player from Iowa, singled to drive in the go-ahead run.

It’s only the beginning of the second week of the season, but everyone understood the importance of the win.

“It was huge, for sure,” Evans said. “We had a few ballgames where our pitchers struggled a little bit. It was really huge for us to get in the win column.”

“Hopefully we can get some things rolling,” Mathews said. “Hopefully it kick-starts us into a new week, and we can get on a roll.”

Box score

Photo: Merrick Mathews watches his game-winning home run in the 10th inning. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

HOOTS 7, BEES 2: Walks, Stolen Bases Aren’t A Good Recipe

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

There is always a get-acquainted period with a pitching staff at the beginning of the season, and Burlington Bees manager Owen Oreskovich knows that.

What he wanted his pitchers to know after Thursday’s 8-2 loss to the O’Fallon Hoots in a Prospect League game at Community Field was that walks and stolen bases are unacceptable.

The eight walks and nine stolen bases the Hoots had were not a recipe for success.

“I’d say it’s a good lesson,” Oreskovich said. “Some of these pitchers, they’ve got some things to learn. Be a little bit quicker to the plate. Commanding the strike zone, especially early in the count — it’s easy to hit when it’s 3-0, 2-1, all the time. You’ve got to get strike one, get ahead early.

“(The stolen bases) were absolute killers. We’ve got to be quick to the plate, work guys more on (pickoffs). Yeah, we’ve got some work to do.”

Oreskovich hasn’t had much time to get to know the pitching staff he put together. Players arrived in Burlington on Sunday and only had a couple of workouts before Tuesday’s season opener at Clinton.

“A lot of these guys, I’ve only seen throw once,” he said. “So it’s going to take at least a week, maybe two weeks, for them to get comfortable. They’ve never thrown to some of these catchers before. Yeah, the first couple of weeks it takes time for everyone to get to know each other, get on the same page.

“But you’ve got to work around it. It’s adversity you have to deal with, and you’ve got to keep working.”

O’Fallon (1-2) clogged the bases throughout the night. Bees starting pitcher Jacob Zahner (0-1) had the only 1-2-3 inning of the night in the third inning, and the rest of the time, it seemed, there was always a Hoot somewhere.

Oreskovich liked what he saw out of his first two pitchers. Zahner allowed only one earned run in four innings. Zach Leuschen allowed just one run in two innings.

“After the first inning, (Zahner) kind of settled in there a little bit,” Oreskovich said. “Leuschen did a good job, too.”

Still, O’Fallon didn’t get control of the game until a three-run outburst in the ninth inning. The Bees had runners in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings and couldn’t score.

“We couldn’t get a timely hit,” Oreskovich said. “We only had a couple of strikeouts through the first seven innings. We were putting the bat on the ball. Late (in the game) is when it matters when you’re down, and we’ve got to do a better job of getting ahead in the count.”

The Bees (1-1) didn’t get their first hit until Christian Dunn’s single in the fifth inning. Scotty Savage’s solo home run in the sixth inning was Burlington’s only extra-base hit.

“We were aggressive early in the count in the first six innings, they were just at-’em balls,” Oreskovich said. “Couldn’t find a hole.”

The Bees play at O’Fallon on Friday and Saturday before coming home to face Illinois Valley on Sunday.

“It’s still early,” Oreskovich said. “We’ve just got to keep working.”

BOX SCORE

Photo: Scotty Savage (right) is greeted at home plate by teammate Merrick Mathews after hitting a solo home run in the sixth inning of Thursday’s game. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

BEES 8, RIVER DRAGONS 6: Speed Keeps The Traffic Moving

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Owen Oreskovich knew he had some speed when he put together the Burlington Bees roster for the Prospect League season.

The manager put it to good use in Wednesday’s 8-6 win over the Alton River Dragons in the home season opener at Community Field.

The Bees had six stolen bases, consistently putting pressure on the River Dragons. Alton also had two throwing errors on pickoff throws to first base, which kept traffic moving on the bases.

“Yeah, that helps,” Oreskovich said of the speed. Some guys I knew were going to be running. I like to run, we run at Mount Mercy, too (where Oreskovich is the team’s hitting coach). It puts pressure on the defense, it puts pressure on their pitcher to make pitches. I enjoy that, being an offensive coach.”

“I think everybody tries to stay in their approach,” said center fielder Cooper Donlin, who had one of the stolen bases and scored three runs. “Put the ball in play, put in play hard, use the tools you have.”

The speed was apparent in the first inning, and although it didn’t lead to a run, it set a tone for the rest of the night.

Jackson Rooker led off the game with a walk and then stole second and third. After Jackson Lindquist walked with one out, Oreskovich tried a double steal. Lindquist was safe at second, but Rooker was thrown out at the plate on a close call.

Donlin had an interesting trip around the bases in the Bees’ three-run third inning. He was hit by a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a passed ball, then scored on another passed ball.

“I look at myself as someone who’s fast, so I try to use those tools — use my speed, put the ball in play, get on base as much as I can,” Donlin said.

There was a little pop to the Bees’ offense. Kinnick Pusteoska hit a two-run home run off the scoreboard in the second inning, and Cedric Dunnwald and Scotty Savage each had doubles.

“I don’t know if we’re going to be a team that’s going to hit a lot of home runs,” Oreskovich said. “So I think we’re going to be a team that runs a lot.”

Every Burlington hitter got on base at least once.

“I think we’ve got a gritty group of hitters,” Oreskovich said. “I don’t know how many strikeouts we had hitting (the Bees had nine), but it didn’t feel like much.

Oreskovich got quality innings out of the three pitchers he used. Jackson Wohlers allowed just one hit in three innings to start the game. Joe Evans (1-0) allowed three hits in three innings. Bobby Helt pitched the final three innings for the save.

“I thought our pitchers did a good job of pounding the zone,” Oreskovich said. “Wohlers settled in after the first inning. First real game at home, it’s a little nerve-wracking. But I think he’ll be good for us this summer. Joe pitched well after he settled in, and Bobby gave us three really good innings.”

UP NEXT: The Bees play host to the O’Fallon Hoots in a 6:30 p.m. game on Wednesday. Jacob Zahner will be the starting pitcher for Burlington.

Box score

Photo: Burlington’s Cooper Donlin steals second base as Alton shortstop Cooper Howell looks for the call in Wednesday’s game at Community Field. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

‘Be You’: Oreskovich Brings Successful Theme To Bees As Season Opens

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Owen Oreskovich had a theme with his hitters that worked well in Mount Mercy’s run to the NAIA national baseball tournament this spring.

Oreskovich is bringing that theme with him as he begins his third summer as manager of the Burlington Bees.

The Bees open the Prospect League season on Tuesday on the road against the Clinton LumberKings and then open the home schedule on Wednesday against the Alton River Dragons at Community Field.

Most of the Bees’ 34-player roster arrived over the weekend and Oreskovich spent Sunday and Monday getting to know his team.

The one thing he does know is how he’s going to approach his players, and it is what worked at Mount Mercy.

“One of the things we talked about with the hitters, and you could always hear it in the dugout, was ‘being you,’” he said Monday. “We mean, ‘Be you,’ by being the type of baseball player you are. Know who you are. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. And that’s kind of the theme we took this year. Don’t try to do too much — if you’ve got runners in scoring position, do what you can do to get them in.

“‘Being you’ was a giant thing that worked with our guys, and I plan on integrating that in the future. And I’ve talked about it with the guys here — I want you to come here, play hard, compete, have the will to win, but at the end of the day be you.”

Oreskovich has taken a sort of hands-off approach with the Bees’ players during the last two summers — recommend some alterations if he sees something mechanical, but most of all it’s been about the players getting experience against the summer competition.

“I’m not here to change them,” he said. “I’m not going to change who you are. Maybe recommend some tweaks here and there, but I’m not going to change them.”

The biggest challenge, Oreskovich said, is putting together a roster, but as the Bees and the league gain a reputation with college coaches, it helps in finding players.

“Most (college) coaches know about the league,” Oreskovich said. “The word’s going around Iowa, especially with Clinton and this team, that this is an extremely competitive league. I want to win, and I want guys who are going to come here and compete.

“Being in my third year, I’ve got some coaches who know me now and know I treat their guys right, know I expect a lot out of them. I’ve had some kids here have good summers, go on to new schools, and it’s been good for them.”

Seven players on the roster have played with the Bees in the past.

“It helps in the clubhouse,” Oreskovich said. “You can have some cohesiveness there. But it’s huge to have guys back. They know what we expect and how we go about the game.

“Everyone says, ‘Well, it’s just summer ball.’ Well, yeah, in a way. But you’ve still got to go about your business and learn. You can learn from everybody. I still learn as a coach today. You can never have too much knowledge in baseball. You can learn from someone every day.”

Oreskovich says his approach hasn’t changed over the last couple of years.

“I’m not here to change you,” he said. “I’m going to make sure you work. But just be who you are.”

Photo: Bees manager Owen Oreskovich (left) laughs during the team’s Community Basket Day scrimmage last summer. Oreskovich, back for his third season as the team’s manager, leads his team into Tuesday’s Prospect League opener at Clinton. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

Bees’ Roster Grows Heading Into Next Week’s Opener

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

The Burlington Bees’ roster has grown heading into the final days before the Prospect League season begins.

The Bees have 34 players committed for the 2024 season, which begins next Tuesday with a road game against the Clinton LumberKings. Teams can carry up to 40 players on their active roster.

Among the players is catcher Reese Moore from Iowa, who was a third-team All-Big Ten selection on Tuesday. Moore is hitting .293 with five home runs and 32 runs batted in for the Hawkeyes, who open Big Ten Tournament play on Wednesday.

Seven former players are among the returnees. Two players from Burlington — pitchers Zach Leuschen and Jacob Zahner — are among the players coming back for a second season with the team.

Owen Oreskovich is back for his third season as the Bees’ manager.

A look at the Bees’ roster, including current statistics:

CATCHERS (3)

Michael Carrano (Parkland College) — Hit .284 with three home runs and 16 RBIs.

Nick Meyer (Mount Mercy) — Hit .118 in 17 games

Reese Moore (Iowa) — Hitting .293 with five home runs and 32 RBIs.

INFIELDERS (9)

Skyler Agnew (Hawaii Pacific) — Hit .291 with two home runs and 27 RBIs.

Landon Akers (Bellarmine) — No stats this season.

Carson Bittner (Phoenix College) — Hit .313 with 11 RBIs in 41 games.

Boston Halloran (Oakland) — No hitting stats in two games.

Jackson Lindquist (Rock Valley College) — Hit .415 with 10 home runs and 56 RBIs.

Merrick Mathews (Iowa) — Hitting .300 in nine games, with one home run and six RBIs.

Ty Plummer (Iowa) — No stats this season.

Kinnick Pusteoska (Tennessee Tech) — No stats this season.

Jackson Rooker (Tennessee Tech) — No stats this season.

OUTFIELDERS (5)

Luke Bragga (Tennessee Tech) — No stats this season.

Cooper Donlin (Hawaii Pacific) — Hit .313 in 32 games.

Cedric Dunnwald (Mount Mercy) — Hit .214 in 21 games. Hit .239 for the Bees last season.

Jackson Reid (Chandler Gilbert CC) — Hit .200 with one home run and 10 RBIs.

Scotty Savage (Milwaukee Area Tech) — Hit .280 with eight RBIs in 27 games.

PITCHERS (17)

Shea Blanchard (Hawaii Pacific) — 3-0 with a 6.21 ERA in 10 appearances with six starts. Has 19 strikeouts in 33 ⅓ innings.

Nathan Chapman (McHenry County College) — 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA in 5 ⅓ innings.

Ryan Donley (Oakland) — 9.00 ERA in five appearances this season. 3-1 with a 6.41 ERA for the Bees last season.

Jack Duncan (Western Illinois) — 2 ⅓ innings in three appearances for the Leathernecks, with a 23.14 ERA

Joe Evans (Morton College) — 3-1 with a 5.73 ERA in nine appearances. Had 35 strikeouts in 37 ⅔ innings.

Chase Golden (Western Illinois) — 0-0 with a 17.36 ERA in 11 appearances. Went 1-2 with a 4.86 ERA for the Bees last season, with 27 strikeouts in 16 ⅔ innings.

Noah Harbin (Maryville University) — 3-3 with a 4.06 ERA. Has 34 strikeouts in 31 innings.

Bobby Helt (Lake Erie College) — 5-5 with a 5.16 ERA. Three complete games this season. Went 0-1 with a 5.91 ERA for the Bees in 2022.

Preston Kaufman (Marian University) — 1-1 with a 7.11 ERA in four appearances this season. Had a 6.63 ERA in 14 appearances with the Bees last season.

Erik Kiewiet (Mount Mercy) — No stats this season.

Zach Leuschen (Southeastern CC) — 2-0 with a 5.68 ERA in 11 appearances this season. 1-0 with a 7.40 ERA with the Bees last season.

Vinny Mauro (DMACC) — 1-1 with a 9.22 ERA, 13 strikeouts in 13 ⅔ innings.

Jimmy McCarthy (Morton College) — 1-1 with a 12.19 ERA in seven appearances. Struck out 19 in 14 ⅔ innings.

Michael Schaul (Mount Mercy) — No stats this season.

Jacob Sjuts (DMACC) — 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA, 14 strikeouts in 17 innings.

Jackson Wohlers (Rock Valley College) — 2-3 with four saves. Has 27 strikeouts in 18 ⅔ innings.

Jacob Zahner (Southeastern CC) — 2-0 with a 6.23 ERA this season. 0-2 in nine starts for the Bees last season.

Photo: Jacob Zahner is one of the returning players on the 2024 Burlington Bees’ roster. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

SEMO 15, WESTERN ILLINOIS 11: Frustrating Day For Leathernecks

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — Western Illinois honored its seniors before Saturday’s home game against Southeast Missouri State.

Terry Davis, in his first season as the Leathernecks’ head coach, knows the best way to honor them is to get to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

That bid suffered a bit of a blow with the 15-11 loss in 11 innings at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium.

Western Illinois (13-33 overall, 8-15 OVC) stayed one game behind Eastern Illinois for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament with four games to play — Sunday’s noon game against the Redhawks (27-14, 14-9) and next weekend’s series at Southern Indiana.

Davis, who was hired during the summer and had to scramble to put together a roster, pointed to his five seniors as motivation to get to the conference tournament.

“I told these guys on day one, at our first team meeting, we’ve got five seniors who have been through a lot,” he said. “They’ve had three or four head coaches, they’ve never played in the postseason. The No. 1 goal this season was to establish culture, identity, who we are and how we’re going to operate. But let’s get these seniors to the postseason. They haven’t had the opportunity to do that.”

It was a frustrating finish to a game the Leathernecks led on three separate occasions, and one they had a chance to win in the 10th inning.

Cesar Franco’s second home run of the game to open the inning tied the game at 11, then the Leathernecks put runners on first and second with no one out. But SEMO pitcher Kyle Miller (4-2) got an infield popout by Kyrie Alexander, a strikeout of Chris Hege, and an infield popout by Brock Lummus to end the inning.

“That’s an interesting spot to be in,” Davis said. “I guess if you want to Monday-morning-quarterback it, we could have (bunted) them over and then try a safety (squeeze bunt) for the win. That’s something we haven’t done a lot of this season, and I think a lot of times you can make mistakes as coaches when you get into postseason baseball or situations that are quote-unquote elimination games, you can overcoach and do some things that are out of character.”

SEMO then broke open the game in the top of the 11th. Western Illinois reliever Cole Dale (2-2) walked three consecutive hitters to open the inning. Jacob Greenan, who replaced Dale, then gave up a two-run double to Josh Cameron. Shea McGahan’s one-out sacrifice fly and Keoni Coloma’s two-out single brought in the other two runs of the inning.

“You can’t compete doing that,” Davis said of the three walks.

Adam Juran provided two of the biggest hits of the day for the Leathernecks. His grand slam in the fifth inning gave Western Illinois an 8-4 lead. His two-run single in the seventh put the Leathernecks up 10-8.

But SEMO tied the game in the ninth on Michael Mugan’s two-run single with one out.

The game was just another of the growing pains the Leathernecks have faced this season.

“I like some things and I don’t like some things,” Davis said. “I do think it’s good, given the timing of the hire and the coaching change, that it’s good we put together a roster in a couple of weeks that has been relatively competitive. We’ve got 13 wins right now, which is nowhere near where we want to be or where we’re going to be. But it is the most we’ve had here since 2019. I like the way we operate as a program, as an organization. We operate like a normal Division I baseball program.

“We have to improve our competitiveness, our maturity, our toughness in certain situations. Those are the things we’ll be talking about in the offseason.”

But Davis knows this season still has some time left.

“Tomorrow is big,” he said. “We’ve got four games to go. If we win all four, I think we can safely say we’re in. We are doing a little bit of scoreboard watching right now.

“It just stings a little bit that we couldn’t get closer today. But the season’s not over. We’re still competing, we’re still playing hard, and we’ll keep doing that until they tell us we can’t play anymore.”

Bees’ Roster Starting To Fill As Season Approaches

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Six NCAA Division I players are among the 23 who have signed so far to play for the Burlington Bees in the Prospect League this season.

The list includes seven players from the state of Iowa, and three players — outfielder Cedric Dunnwald and pitchers Preston Kaufman and Zach Leuschen — who played with the Bees last season.

Prospect League teams can carry as many as 40 players on their roster for the 58-game season. The Bees open their season on May 28 at Clinton.

Owen Oreskovich is back for his third season as the Bees’ manager.

A look at the Bees’ roster, including current statistics:

CATCHERS

Michael Carrano (Parkland College) — Batting .300 with three home runs and 16 RBIs.

Jacob Schindler (McHenry County College) — No stats this season.

INFIELDERS

Skyler Agnew (Hawaii Pacific) — Hitting .298 with two home runs and 26 RBIs.

Landon Akers (Bellarmine) — No stats this season.

Carson Bittner (Phoenix College) — Hitting .317 with 10 RBIs.

Jackson Lindquist (Rock Valley College) — Hitting .416 with six home runs and 45 RBIs.

Merrick Mathews (Iowa) — Hitting .333 in seven games, with one home run and six RBIs.

Ty Plummer (Iowa) — No stats this season.

Kinnick Pusteoska (Tennessee Tech) — No stats this season.

Jackson Rooker (Tennessee Tech) — No stats this season.

Ryan Skwarek (McHenry County College) — Hitting .410 with one home run and 29 RBIs. Also has pitched five innings with 10 strikeouts.

OUTFIELDERS

Luke Bragga (Tennessee Tech) — No stats this season.

Cooper Donlin (Hawaii Pacific) — Hitting .313 in 24 games.

Cedric Dunnwald (Mount Mercy) — Hitting .214 in 21 games. Hit .239 for the Bees last season.

Jackson Reid (Chandler Gilbert CC) — Hitting .179 in 12 games.

Scotty Savage (Milwaukee Area Tech) — Hitting .339 with six home runs and 35 RBIs.

PITCHERS

Shea Blanchard (Hawaii Pacific) — 3-0 with a 6.44 ERA in nine appearances with five starts. Has 17 strikeouts in 29 ⅓ innings.

Nathan Chapman (McHenry County College) — 0-1 with one save. Three strikeouts in 3 ⅓ innings

Noah Harbin (Maryville University) — 1-2 with a 4.19 ERA. Has 25 strikeouts in 19 ⅓ innings.

Preston Kaufman (Marian University) — 1-1 with a 4.35 ERA in two appearances this season. Had a 6.63 ERA in 14 appearances with the Bees last season.

Zach Leuschen (Southeastern CC) — 1-0 with a 4.73 ERA in 11 appearances this season. 1-0 with a 7.40 ERA with the Bees last season.

Michael Schaul (Mount Mercy) — No stats this season.

Jackson Wohlers (Rock Valley College) — 2-3 with four saves. Has 27 strikeouts in 18 ⅔ innings.

Photo: Pitcher Preston Kaufman is one of three former Burlington Bees returning to the team for this season. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

Brauer Wants More Visibility For Prospect League

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

David Brauer looked at his first season as the Prospect League’s commissioner as “Year 0.”

“Maybe it’s cliche,” Brauer said. “But your runway is short in the lead-up to the season. You’re trying to evaluate, trying to look at what you can implement quickly, and still have everything moving forward.”

That’s why this year in the college summer league will be the first step in what Brauer plans to be the continued progression of the league.

The league now has 18 teams in seven states with the addition of the Dubois County Bombers of Huntingburg, Ind., and the Full Count Rhythm of Hendersonville, Tenn. The 56-game schedule begins on May 28 and runs through July 31, with the postseason set for August 1-8.

There were 17 teams in the Prospect League, which meant there was at least one team with an off-day every day.

“We’re back to 18, which is good for scheduling,” Brauer said. “It makes sense. Certainly much easier. You don’t have that team that has the rotating off day. It works well for football, but for baseball it’s a little awkward.”

The 56-game season is down four games from last season, but Brauer said it’s a good number.

“That aligns with the college season,” he said. “It’s a good number. You want to be in that middle.”

Brauer noted how the Coastal Plains League plays a 48-game schedule, while the Northwoods League is at 70.

“I don’t think you want to go to either extreme, you want to be more in the middle,” Brauer said.

Brauer noted that in conversations with college coaches, the idea of a shorter season was one that appealed to them.

“They are most adamant about the calendar,” he said. “The game schedule is important, considering how condensed it is. We’re playing 56 (games) in probably 65 days. That was really the focal point for the college coaches, like, ‘Hey, let my kids get back on campus, or give them a little time to decompress.’ You’ve got to remember that these kids are 18 to 21 years old, so give them a little time to relax.”

Brauer pointed out how the league’s season starts within days after the end of the college season.

“When you come to our league, without much of a break, you’re really at game 56, game 57,” he said. “I don’t think people realize that. They think you walk into this league and it’s a whole new season, but it’s really not. It’s really just a continuation.”

The league set an attendance record with 575,294 fans last season. Ten teams in the league had increased average attendance, including the Burlington Bees, who drew an average of 1,026 fans last season, up from 1,011 in 2022 and 896 in 2021.

“To me, the biggest thing was our attendance record,” Brauer said. “There was tremendous support around the league. We were above 500,000 for the first time. You could easily point to it and say, ‘Well, you had two new teams,’ and doing the math like that. But realistically, the average attendance was up more than 200 fans in each ballpark, on average. That’s really encouraging.”

Brauer wants to build on that with increased marketing within the league.

“Now, it’s how can we tap into that and really engage the fans more, build the brand more, get the visibility out there,” he said. “I think social media engagement is what we want to focus on more this year, get our teams visible, not only in their market, but league-wide and nationally, so people know who the Prospect League is. I think there are a lot of great selling points.”

There are challenges in a league that has such a wide footprint.

“There are some holes out east,” Brauer said, noting travel for some teams is the biggest challenge. “How we fill that in in the future is something under consideration, something our directors talk about frequently. You want to make sure that you have the right markets, the ones that can be successful.”

Brauer knows the lure of the league to players is to get into markets that have been part of professional baseball in the past.

“I think, top to bottom, we’re a good league,” he said. “This league, I think you can get that game-day experience you can’t get at other places.

“We’re a college baseball league, but we’re wrapped up in minor-league packaging. You’ve got the Bees and the Clinton LumberKings with minor league backgrounds. You’ve got cities that were in independent leagues, cities with professional baseball histories. The more we can showcase the fan experience and the ballparks and what you see in the league talent-wise, then the reputation grows. It’s not an overnight fix, but it’s something you can keep stacking over the years.”

Photo: The Burlington Bees celebrate Caleb Wulf’s walk-off hit in a game last July. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

Bees Open Season At Clinton

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

The Burlington Bees won’t have to travel too far in the first two weeks of the 2024 Prospect League season.

Eight of the Bees’ first 13 games will be at Community Field, according to the schedule released by the league on Thursday.

The Bees open the season on the road against the Clinton LumberKings on May 28, then open the home portion of their schedule the following night with a 6:30 p.m. game against the Alton River Dragons.

The Bees play a three-game series against the O’Fallon Hoots — at home on May 30 and then on the road May 31 and June 1 — then play five of their next eight games at home.

Among the games on the schedule:

• The Bees have four Sunday home games — June 2 and June 23 vs. Illinois Valley, June 9 vs. Clinton, and July 7 vs. Normal.

• Five home games during the week around July 4 — July 2 vs. O’Fallon, July 3 and 5 vs. Clinton, July 6 vs. Springfield and July 7 vs. Normal. The Bees play at Clinton on July 4.

• The longest road trip of the season is a six-game trip from June 25-30 that includes two games against the Cape Catfish, three with the Jackson Rockabillys and one with the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes.

• The Community Basket Extravaganza is set for July 21 at 2 p.m.

• The home regular-season finale is July 30 against Clinton. The Bees close the regular season the following night at Clinton.

Eighteen teams will play in the Prospect League this season, the largest number in the league’s 61-year history. Two new teams join the league — the Dubois County Bombers of Huntingburg, Indiana, and the Full Count Rhythm of Hendersonville, Tennessee.

The Bees have 16 players committed for this season:

Pitchers — Noah Harbin (Maryville University), Zach Leuschen (Southeastern CC), and Jackson Wohlers (Rock Valley College).

Catchers — Michael Carrano (Parkland College) and Jacob Schindler (McHenry County College)

Infielders — Skyler Agnew (Hawaii-Pacific), Landon Akers (Bellarmine), Carson Bittner (Phoenix College), Ty Plummer (Iowa), Kinnick Pusteoska (Tennessee Tech), and Ryan Skwarek (McHenry County College)

Outfielders — Luke Bragga (Tennessee Tech), Cooper Donlin (Hawaii-Pacific), Cedric Dunnwald (Mount Mercy), Jackson Reid (Chandler-Gilbert CC), and Scotty Savage (Milwaukee Area Tech).

Photo: Cedric Dunnwald slides into second base during the Burlington Bees’ season opener against Quincy last season. Dunnwald is among the players committed to play for the Bees in the 2024 Prospect League season. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)