By John Bohnenkamp

Spencer Nivens’ three-run home run that rattled the scoreboard in the eighth inning put some life into the Burlington Bees.

The top of the ninth, though, silenced everyone.

Illinois Valley scored just five runs on two hits in an inning that Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said went “haywire”, and the Pistol Shrimp held on for a 13-8 win in Wednesday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.

Illinois Valley (16-11) took advantage of an error, three walks, a hit batter and two wild pitches — one of which allowed two runs to score.

“It’s just tough,” Oreskovich said, searching for words. “That’s just tough. It didn’t go our way today. Those things happen, but … that’s a tough one. That one hurts a little bit.”

The inning started when Illinois Valley’s Zach Lane hit a popup into short right field that second baseman Tucker Cole tried to track down. The ball hit off Cole’s glove, and Lane reached second base.

“That’s a tough play, especially at night,” Oreskovich said. “Everything started from there.”

Only one of the hits in the inning, a single by Dio Cornet, drove in a run.

Bees starting pitcher Osvaldo Mendez allowed two hits and two runs in the first two innings, but left the game after Oreskovich said he was feeling “tight.”

Cauy Massner gave up six runs in three innings. Nick Tampa (0-1), who pitched a perfect seventh and eighth inning, was charged with two runs. Kyle Maurer, who relieved Tampa in the ninth, gave up three runs.

The Bees (10-16) had 13 hits. Leadoff hitter Sam Monroe had two hits and scored twice. Nivens, who had four hits, scored four times. Eight of the nine Burlington starters had hits, and all nine reached base.

Illinois Valley led 8-5 going into the bottom of the eighth. Cole and Trey Adams had back-to-back walks to start the inning. After Monroe struck out, Nivens pounded his home run to right field, his second homer at Community Field in as many games.

“I thought our offense was really good today,” Oreskovich said. “Up and down the order. They gave us a chance to win the game. We just had to get it done on the mound.”

Eben Heine (1-0) was the winning pitcher.

ON DECK: The two teams play a 6:30 p.m. game Thursday at Community Field.

NOTES: Nivens extended his hitting streak to seven games. Nivens, who is hitting .300 for the season, is batting .355 in the streak. … Monroe is on a six-game hitting streak. He is hitting .333 in the streak. … Bees third baseman Oscar Ponce has a five-game hitting streak. … Bees first baseman Ryan Grace is batting .484 over the last nine games.

Photo: Spencer Nivens connects on his eighth-inning home run. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

Trevor McGee has a plan for his pitching career.

His college career is over, so the Burlington Bees left-hander is in the Prospect League hoping someone notices him.

Maybe an independent professional league. Or maybe a Major League Baseball scout.

It’s why, after talking to Bees manager Owen Oreskovich, McGee made a two-day drive from Pennsylvania for an opportunity to keep pitching.

“I was thinking to myself if you want to get looked at, you’re going to have to go where the eyes go,” McGee said. “I was hoping to find a high-level league to pitch in.”

McGee has made two strong starts for the Bees since arriving on June 17. He’s 1-0 with a 1.80 earned run average, with 10 strikeouts in 10 innings.

He has helped bolster a Bees starting rotation that has struggled at times this season. His veteran presence — he is one of three graduated seniors on the roster — has made a difference as well.

“He has helped some of our guys greatly in the bullpen, just talking about pitching,” Oreskovich said.

McGee, who is from Bensalem Township, Pa.,  was 1-6 with a 6.81 earned run average at Clarion (Pa.) University, an NCAA Division II school this season. McGee was looking for a summer league, and when the Bees had a roster opening and in need of pitching after a five-games-in-three-days stretch in the second week of the season, Oreskovich reached out to him.

“He said, ‘We’ve got a spot here if you want to throw,’” McGee said. “And I took it.”

McGee made his first start two days after his arrival, throwing six innings and striking out six in a 2-1 win over the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes. He allowed one run in four innings in Sunday’s 6-3 win at Clinton.

Nine of the Bees’ 14 pitchers were either college freshmen or sophomores this season. McGee and Garrett Moltzan, a senior at Texas Wesleyan, are the oldest pitchers on the staff.

“Those guys have been through it, they’ve seen it,” Oreskovich said. “You can see it when they pitch, too. They don’t really let any little thing affect them, like some guys might. They’re pitchers. They might not be guys that throw 95, 98, but they know how to pitch. They know how to get guys out. They can see things in swings. They’re pitchers. They’re really great to have there around young guys.”

McGee likes to be around his new teammates.

“You kind of see where their journey went, where they’re at,” he said. “The league was more mature here. Some of these leagues get into the entertainment side of it. I kind of wanted a league that was serious about baseball. They’re here, they’re grinding. They’re here with a goal and a mindset.”

McGee doesn’t have the obligations that come with younger pitchers. Some come to the summer leagues with either pitch counts or inning limits set by their college coaches.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t have to worry about anymore, being graduated,” he said. “I don’t have to really worry about it now. I’m kind of on my own terms here.

“It’s nice to not really have any more distractions. I’d like to develop further. Get bigger, stronger. Throw more accurate pitches, better spin rate, more efficient pitching.”

This is McGee’s third summer league season. He played in the Northwoods League in 2019, and played for Springfield in the Prospect League last season.

“I’ve been around a little bit,” he said, smiling.

Playing in a former minor-league ballpark for an organization that was once an MLB affiliate was something that appealed to McGee.

“The people here really love baseball,” he said. “They’re people who understand and respect baseball. The people here get involved, they talk to the players. It’s kind of cool knowing they’re really involved. Some of them have told me they’ve looked up my stats, things like that.

“It’s kind of a humbling experience a little bit, knowing a few years earlier, there was a pro athlete wearing this same uniform I’m wearing now. It’s a little bit surreal. But I’m glad I’m here.”

BY THE NUMBERS

• Spencer Nivens is on a six-game hitting streak. Nivens is hitting .269 in the streak with one home run and seven runs batted in.

• Trey Adams is also on a six-game hitting streak. Adams is hitting .381 in the streak.

• Ben Tallman was 0-for-25 to start the season. He’s 3-for-7 with two runs batted in and two runs scored in his last two games.

• Ryan Grace has hits in six of his last seven games. Grace, batting .360 for the season, is batting .478 in that stretch.

• Sam Monroe has a four-game hitting streak. Monroe is hitting .333 in the streak. Monroe leads the league with 23 walks.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• Monday, at Alton. The Bees take their four-game winning streak to play the River Dragons (13-10) for the first time this season.

• Wednesday-Thursday vs. Illinois Valley, Friday at Illinois Valley. After an off-day Tuesday, the Bees begin a three-game series against the Pistol Shrimp (15-8). Illinois Valley won the first two games against the Bees on June 14-15.

• Saturday-Sunday, vs. Clinton. The Bees, who have beaten the LumberKings twice this season, close the first half against them with two games at Community Field.

Photo: Bees pitcher Trevor McGee is one of three graduated seniors on the team. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

Kevin Santiago had two at-bats in which he just missed hitting the pitch he wanted.

That wasn’t going to happen a third time.

Santiago’s 11th-inning single brought in Oscar Ponce with the winning run as the Burlington Bees defeated the Cape Catfish 2-1 Saturday night in a Prospect League game at Community Field.

The Bees (9-14) have won three consecutive games and four out of their last five.

But they had to rally in their longest game of the year. The game took 5 hours, 13 minutes to complete, including a 1-hour, 45-minute rain delay in the second inning.

It was the third win by the Bees over the Catfish this season, and all of them have come in Burlington’s final at-bat. The Bees scored a run in the top of the ninth for an 8-7 win on June 10, then won 10-9 on the following night with two ninth-inning runs.

“And now this,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “To do that, wow. That was awesome.”

Santiago’s hit with two runners on capped the comeback that was started when Spencer Nivens hit his first home run of the year, a towering drive to right field, to lead off the inning.

Ponce followed with a line-drive single to right-center field, and then he moved to second when Ryan Grace was hit by a pitch.

Santiago, who had flyouts in the fifth and seventh innings, knew what he was looking for when he came to the plate.

“I was looking for a fastball, because all day they had been throwing me off-speed,” said Santiago, who is hitting .313 this season. “I know for something to happen, it had to be a fastball in.”

He got that from Cape reliever Dante Zamudio (1-1), driving a pitch down the left-field line. As Ponce scored the winning run, the Bees poured from the third-base dugout and chased Santiago into left field to celebrate.

Santiago, a junior at Texas Wesleyan University, played for the Bees last season, and his experience is something that Oreskovich appreciates.

“He and Marcos (Sanchez), they’re veteran guys,” Oreskovich said. “They’re guys that if they strike out, they won’t carry it into the dugout. They won’t carry it into their next (at-bat). They’re very good with that.

“He kept that presence about him. He was very mature up there. He was confident, and you could see that.”

The two teams combined for 10 scoreless innings, then the Catfish (8-15) scored without a hit in the top of the 11th.

Jackson Jarvis struck out to open the inning, but reached first on a wild pitch from C.J. Lewis (1-0). Jarvis moved to second on another wild pitch, then got to third on a passed ball. Kolton Poorman’s sacrifice fly brought Jarvis home.

That was the only blemish on an otherwise brilliant pitching performance for Lewis, who threw six innings in relief. Lewis threw just 68 pitches.

“That was incredible,” Oreskovich said. “That was huge to have, especially to keep his pitch count not absurd for six innings. Him competing out there was the best thing.”

Lewis’ work came after Bees starter Jared Townsend pitched five innings. Townsend allowed two hits in the first inning and walked two of the first three hitters to open the second before the rain delay. He then came out and got out of the second inning, then didn’t allow a hit over the final three innings.

“He went out there and completely flipped the game,” Oreskovich said.

The Bees didn’t get a hit until Sam Monroe’s infield single with one out in the sixth inning. They didn’t get another until Santiago’s single with two outs in the ninth.

“We had some good hits that were caught,” Oreskovich said.

ON DECK: The Bees play at Clinton in a 2 p.m. game on Sunday. Bees starter Trevor McGee (1-0) will face Clinton’s Brody Brecht.

Photo: Kevin Santiago gets water thrown on him after delivering the game-winning hit in the Bees’ 2-1 victory over the Cape Catfish.

By John Bohnenkamp

Owen Oreskovich figured at some point there would be a break that would finally erase the Burlington Bees’ struggles to score runs.

There were plenty of those in the 7-5 win over the Clinton LumberKings in Wednesday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.

The Bees (7-14) rallied from a 5-2 deficit, tying the game with a three-run seventh inning and then going ahead in the eighth in an inning in which their only hit was an infield single.

“It was nice to see it go our way for once,” Oreskovich, the Bees’ manager, said.

“Absolutely, it was a huge win,” said shortstop Trey Adams, who drove in Burlington’s first run and got on base three times.

The Bees had lost seven of their last eight games, including all six last week.

“Hopefully this is the start of a streak and we can ride it out,” Adams said. “It’s been very frustrating. We went on that losing streak for a while, and some guys got down. It was tough to come back from that. A couple of wins here and there can get us going in the right direction again.”

Oreskovich has lamented the lack of hits in big situations all season, but the Bees found a way to get runs, and it started with some solar help in the fifth inning.

Burlington trailed 2-1 and had a runner on third with two outs when A.J. Henkle hit what looked to be an inning-ending grounder to Clinton third baseman Luke Ira. Ira’s throw to first was on target, but it was right into the sun shining in the eyes of first baseman Jeremy Conforti. Conforti couldn’t handle the throw, and Sam Monroe scored the tying run.

“I was like, ‘One went our way,’” Oreskovich said, laughing.

The three runs in the seventh were all scratched out. The Bees loaded the bases with no one out, then Kevin Santiago grounded out to first to score Adams, who had opened the inning with a single. Marcos Sanchez followed with a sacrifice fly to score Spencer Nivens, and then Chase Honeycutt dropped a single into left-center field to score Henkle to tie the game.

The Bees loaded the bases with no one out in the eighth on three consecutive walks. Nivens grounded out to second to score Brandon Bickford. Henkle struck out for the second out, then Santiago walked. Marcos Sanchez followed with an infield single to score Monroe, and Burlington had a 7-5 lead.

Four Bees pitchers combined on a four-hitter. Owen Rice (1-1) got the win with 1 ⅓ shutout innings that included striking out the side in the eighth inning. Kyle Maurer pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save.

Osvaldo Mendez, making his first start for the Bees, struck out four and didn’t allow a hit until a two-run home run by Conforti with two outs in the fifth. That likely was going to be Mendez’s last batter, since he was three pitches from the league’s 95-pitch limit. Mendez walked seven.

“Huge shout-out to Osvaldo for going out there and shoving,” Oreskovich said. “He’s got to limit the free bases, and he knows that. Once we limit that, he can go six, seven innings pretty easily.”

Cauy Massner finished the fifth by striking out Joe Simpson. He gave up three runs in the sixth and seventh, but two errors behind him were costly.

Adams, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, went 2-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to five games. He is hitting .438 in the streak.

“Working in the cage before games has been the biggest change for me,” Adams said. “Working on my approach and my swing, just going up there and having confidence no matter where I am in the order.”

“I like him (in the No. 9 spot) for that reason,” Oreskovich said. “Because I know he’s going to compete, put the ball in play. Earlier in the year, he was putting it in play, but it was right at the shortstop, or right at the second baseman. Now they’re finding the holes and they’re falling in.”

The Bees, in the middle of a four-game homestand, get Thursday off with a win they can enjoy.

“I think it’s a swing point,” Oreskovich said. “I think it’s huge for these kids’ confidence.”

UP NEXT: The Bees play a 6:30 p.m. game on Friday against the O’Fallon Hoots at Community Field.

Photo: Bees starter Osvaldo Mendez delivers a pitch early in Wednesday’s game. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

The hit, Owen Oreskovich said, is going to come.

That one hit that will clear the traffic on the bases in a key moment.

The one that keeps eluding the Burlington Bees this season.

“It’s a recurring thing, where we can’t get that hit,” Oreskovich, the Bees’ manager, said after Tuesday’s 7-3 loss to the Quincy Gems in a Prospect League game at Community Field.

The Bees left 12 baserunners, including the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth innings. They were 2-of-10 with runners in scoring position (RISP).

The strikeouts were especially painful — the Bees had 13, four coming with runners in scoring position with two outs.

“Once again, we’re leaving guys on base,” Oreskovich said. “We need somebody to step up, take the lead, take charge.”

The Bees (6-14) had eight hits. Trey Adams had two runs batted in hitting in the No. 9 spot in the lineup, and newly-acquired Marcos Sanchez, who joined the team on Monday, hit a solo pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning.

Eventually, Oreskovich figures, something has to break with all of these opportunities.

“It’s a positive (getting baserunners),” Oreskovich said. “Something’s got to happen. That’s just the way baseball goes.

“It’s got to break at some point. It’s probably a broken-bat single or something.”

The Gems (10-10) did get the timely hits. Drew Townsend had a two-out RBI single in the second. Lucas Loos hit a two-out, two-run home run in the third. Jonathan Latham had a two-out, three-run home run in the eighth.

Garrett Moltzan (1-3) was the losing pitcher. He allowed just four hits over five innings and struck out four.

“G-Mo went out there and was doing his thing again,” Oreskovich said. “I’ve got all of the confidence in the world in that kid going out there.”

Cael Kolacia (3-1) was the winning pitcher.

UP NEXT: The Bees play host to the Clinton LumberKings in Wednesday’s 6:30 p.m. game. Osvaldo Mendez will make his first start for the Bees. Mendez was 5-2 with a 5.11 earned run average at Alabama State this season. He pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief against Tennessee in the NCAA regionals on June 3.

NOTES: Plate umpire Daniel Grawe had a rough night, taking a wild pitch off his throat in the fourth inning and another off his shoulder later in the game. … Game time temperature was 94 degrees with a heat index above 100. “It was brutal when we were out there for (batting practice),” Oreskovich said.

Photo: Burlington Bees shortstop Trey Adams watches his run-scoring single in the second inning. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By John Bohnenkamp

Spencer Nivens spent his redshirt freshman season at Missouri State getting on base.

He’s doing the same thing this summer in the Prospect League with the Burlington Bees.

Nivens, who joined the Bees last Monday, has been on base in five of his first six games.

This came after a season in which he had a .443 on-base percentage at Missouri State, reaching safely in 56 of the 60 games he played. He had a 30-game on-base streak, along with hitting streaks of 13 and 12 games, during the season.

Nivens, a left-handed hitter who is playing either left field or center field for the Bees, wants to keep that momentum going into the summer.

“It’s about getting your pitches early, not swinging at pitchers’ pitches,” Nivens said. “They want you to get some weak contact, roll over, make an out early in the at-bat. The earlier you can hit a ball hard, the better the outcome.”

Nivens is batting .208 with the Bees after his first week, but he has three doubles, including one that pounded the right-field wall in Friday’s 11-4 loss to the Quincy Gems.

“Oh yeah, (the tools) are definitely there,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said after Thursday’s game. “He hit one over the scoreboard in (batting practice) today, so yeah, they’re there.”

Nivens, a second-team all-conference selection in the Missouri Valley Conference,  led Missouri State with a .346 batting average to go with 11 home runs and 52 runs batted in. He started every game, with 24 multi-hit games. He scored 71 runs, the fourth-most in the program for a single season. He had 44 walks and 59 singles, also numbers that were in the top-10 in the program’s single-season lists. He led off games against Samford and Bradley with home runs.

Nivens helped lead the Bears to the Valley’s conference tournament title and a spot in the NCAA regionals, where they fought off elimination with an 8-7 win over Grand Canyon before losing 29-15 to Oklahoma State.

“It was everything I had dreamed about as a kid growing up watching the regionals,” said Nivens, who had a three-run home run in the Bears’ comeback against Grand Canyon. “Being able to finally make one with Missouri State, which had been on a bit of a dry spell, it’s nice to finally turn it around and get to a regional.”

Nivens, who grew up in Columbia, Mo., is playing in his third summer-league season. He played in 2020 in the CarShield Collegiate League, a four-team league that played in O’Fallon, Mo., after other summer leagues had shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nivens played in the Northwoods League for part of last season, before coming back to Missouri to play in the MINK Collegiate Baseball League, where he .311 with a .480 on-base percentage.

“It was an absolute grind, nothing like I had ever experienced before,” Nivens said of playing in the Northwoods League. “We got our schedule, I think in June and July we had two off days on the schedule. It’s a little overwhelming, but I think they do a good job managing workloads. It was great competition.”

Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin got Nivens connected with the Bees.

“He told me I was playing here, and I was like, ‘OK, sounds good,’” Nivens said. “I figured if I could go somewhere new every summer, go somewhere I’ve never been, it would be fun. It’s somewhere new, it’s three hours from home, so it’s not too bad of a drive. It worked out well.”

“He’s a kid who wants to play baseball, loves to play baseball,” Oreskovich said. “I like the way he goes about his business, the way he competes out there. I think he’s fine. It’s just baseball for him.”

Nivens said he is getting into a summer routine with the Bees, which is important.

“Our hitting coach (Joey Hawkins at Missouri State) did a really good job of harping on routines,” Nivens said. “So we would come in every day, do the same warmups, the same routine in the cages, and that just really helped me not only get my body ready, but get my mind ready to practice, play in the game, do whatever I needed to do that day.

“It’s just about getting as many at-bats as you can. Summer is the time to just maintain, get stronger, see more pitching, and for guys who want to play at the next level, get comfortable with the wood bat.”

THE WEEK AHEAD

• Quincy (Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.) — After an off-day Monday, the Bees begin a four-game homestand, opening against the Gems (9-9), who are on a three-game winning streak.

• Clinton (Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.) — It’s the first time for the Bees to see the LumberKings (10-9) this season. Clinton is on a four-game winning streak.

• O’Fallon (Friday, 6:30 p.m.) — The Hoots (11-8) are on a six-game winning streak. They’ve won all three games against the Bees this season.

• Alton (Saturday, 6:30 p.m.) — The River Dragons (11-7) lead the Prairie Land Division. It’s the first meeting of the season between the two teams.

Photo: Bees outfielder Spencer Nivens has been on base in five of his first six games this summer. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)