Kooper Schulte, who played for the Burlington Bees this summer, announced on social media Sunday that he was committing to play baseball at Iowa.
Schulte, a New London, Iowa native, will join the Hawkeyes for the 2024-25 academic year. He will be a sophomore this season at Central Arizona College.
Schulte, an infielder, hit .242 in 33 games at Central Arizona last season. But he hit .373 with a .962 OPS this summer with the Bees in the Prospect League.
Schulte played in 19 games, with eight doubles and 10 runs batted in. But his season ended on June 29 when he broke his hand after being hit by a pitch in the first inning of a 6-4 win over the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes.
Photo: Bees shortstop Kooper Schulte throws to first base during a game this season. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
Wulf was the only Bee named to the 16-player team.
Wulf, who plays at Southeastern Community College, hit .367 in 36 games. Wulf had 51 hits and scored 22 runs. He drove in 19 runs, finishing with a .404 on-base percentage and a .396 slugging percentage.
The Cape Catfish led the team with five selections — shortstop Justin Carinci, outfielders Chris Hall and Brody Christian, and starting pitchers Jorge Romero and Noah Gadberry.
The Western Conference team included Illinois Valley reliever Sebastian Gonzalez, who was named the league’s pitcher of the year and pro prospect of the year.
Photo: Bees second baseman Caleb Wulf was named a Western Conference All-Star on Thursday. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
I had a college baseball coach tell me that he always recommended to his best players that they play a season in a summer league.
The chance to play, he said, was invaluable, even in leagues where the competition wasn’t so good. More at-bats and more innings makes for a better player.
But there was a bigger reason to play, he told me. It’s a chance to get a simulation of what it will be like if a player becomes a professional.
It’s long bus rides, it’s building a bond in a clubhouse with a team of players you’ve never met before. It’s playing in quirky ballparks, being embraced by a community, learning to manage your time in a schedule that’s all about baseball.
It’s about memories.
I thought about that this year in watching the Burlington Bees in the Prospect League.
The Bees played 57 games this season, each one having its own story. And so many of the games had stories inside the story.
The Bees endured rain, heat, nights in the smoky haze that covered the Midwest. They pulled tarp, their bus broke down somewhere on an Ohio highway during a seven-games-in-six-days-in-four-states odyssey.
What was fascinating was the clubhouse dynamic never changed throughout the season even when the roster did. The common theme of the newcomers was, “There’s a great group of guys here.”
It was something pitching coach Jack Gray predicted at the Bees’ winter banquet in February.
A good chunk of the roster had already been signed, the last couple of months before the season would be about filling the final spots.
Gray, though, said the signed players already had a group text message going. “I don’t know how good we’re going to be, but these guys really like each other,” Gray said.
It showed during the season.
Go back to the loud cheer from the dugout on Connor Laeng’s single in the second inning of the June 25 game against O’Fallon. It was Laeng’s first hit of the season, on his 36th at-bat.
It was that kind of chemistry that kept the Bees in the playoff chase until the final week, and kept them in most games.
There were plenty of standout performances. Mason Schwalbach hit .335 and had a league-high 21 doubles. Keanu Spenser hit .304 with 14 doubles and 10 home runs. Caleb Wulf hit .367 in 36 games. Kooper Schulte was batting .373 before a broken hand ended his season.
It was a season in which the Bees had their first player in their three seasons in the Prospect League selected in the Major League Baseball draft, when Spencer Nivens, who played with the team last season, was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the fifth round.
Three Bees — Schwalbach (Kansas State), Lincoln Riley (Arkansas) and Coy Sarsfield (Iowa) — will be on the rosters of Power-5 conference teams in the upcoming college baseball season.
The game of the year was the 10-9 win over Alton, when the Bees rallied from an 8-0 deficit to win in 10 innings on July 28.
It was the hottest night of the season — a heat index of 108 degrees at game-time — and in the moments after the win the smothering humidity of the night was mixed with the fog of the comeback, a feeling of that-was-cool-but-what-the-hell-just-happened.
Outside the Bees’ clubhouse, relief pitcher Preston Kaufman was on the phone with his mom, telling her about the game, when a man walked by and said to Kaufman, “Hell of a game.”
Kaufman stopped his conversation, and shook the man’s hand.
“Thanks for coming,” he said.
Kaufman was one of those stories-within-the-story. He had allowed just one run in four innings of relief in the game, keeping the River Dragons in check to help set up the rally.
I interviewed Kaufman when he got off the phone, and when we were done talking I said, “Hell of a game.”
Kaufman just smiled.
“I won’t forget it,” he said. “Ever.”
Photo: Caleb Wulf (middle) is mobbed by teammates after his game-winning hit against Quincy on July 17. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
Keanu Spenser finished autographing a bat, one of his last acts in the Burlington Bees’ season.
He smiled.
“Amazing way to end the season,” Spenser said. “Couldn’t ask for a better one.”
The Bees said goodbye to the Prospect League season with one of their better wins of the summer, a 10-4 win over the Quincy Gems on Saturday at Community Field.
Spenser had three hits, including his first triple of the season, scored three times and drove in two runs. Cedric Dunnwald had four hits, including his first triple of the season, and drove in three runs.
The Bees closed the season with back-to-back home wins over the Gems and the Clinton LumberKings, the two Great River Division representatives in the league playoffs, which start Sunday. Burlington finished 15-15 in the second half, 25-32 overall.
“I’m super proud of these guys,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “They gave it their best in the last game of the year. It was fun.
“Nice to get a win.”
Caleb Wulf’s RBI single in the fourth inning gave the Bees a 4-3 lead, and they just kept adding runs — two in the fifth, two in the sixth, and two in the eighth.
Spenser and Dunnwald were with the team from beginning to end, and they appreciated the opportunity.
“It’s the first time I’ve experienced anything like this,” said Spenser, who hit .304 with 10 home runs and 42 runs batted in. “Completely different than any baseball I’ve ever played. It’s been an absolute blast. Couldn’t ask for anything better.”
“It was great. We had a great group of guys,” said Dunnwald, who hit .239. “I was one of the few who stayed the whole summer, so it was great to end that way, with a win. It’s always good to end that way.”
Dunnwald closed strong, hitting .316 in the final week.
“I felt like the last couple of weeks I was starting to figure stuff out,” Dunnwald said. “I felt like my swing had progressed. I felt like tonight everything went my way. It felt good.
“I think I’ve just got to soak in what I’ve learned this summer. That’s what it’s all about.”
Jared Townsend (1-2) was the winning pitcher in relief, pitching two scoreless innings.
Oreskovich used five pitchers, bringing in Preston Kaufman to get the final out, a broken-bat grounder that ended the night.
Oreskovich tried to sum up the season. “I love these guys,” he said. “I’ve got a great group of guys here. I’d do anything for them, they would do anything for me.”
The players stuck around on the field after the game, saying their goodbyes.
Spenser, who is from Arizona, took in the last moments.
“Headed home in the morning,” he said, still smiling. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
Photo: Keanu Spenser slides into third base on his third-inning triple. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
The wish for the Burlington Bees, of course, would be playing in the Prospect League playoffs.
That hope ended earlier this week.
Friday’s 4-3 win over the Clinton LumberKings at Community Field, though, gives the Bees a chance to finish at .500 in the second half.
“Obviously we would want to be above .500, be in the playoffs,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “That would be just good for the guys, good for us, good for the fans who come out to our home games. Hopefully we can get one more for them.”
The Bees (24-32 overall, 14-15 second half), who snapped a five-game losing streak, play host to the Quincy Gems, the Great River Division second-half playoff qualifier, in Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. game to end the regular season.
Burlington hasn’t finished .500 or better in a half since the first half of the team’s inaugural season in the league in 2021.
Keanu Spenser drove in two runs for the Bees, who had to hang on in the ninth after Jeremy Conforti’s two-run home run in the eighth got the LumberKings (33-24, 17-13) within a run.
Bees reliever David Theriot walked Patrick McGinn to lead off the ninth. Tate Gillen singled to right field, moving McGinn to third.
Theriot then made what turned out to be a game-saving play, nearly catching a line drive from Max Holy. Theriot dropped the ball, but picked it up in time to throw out Holy at first base while keeping McGinn stuck at third.
Paul Vossen popped out for the second out of the inning, then Conforti was intentionally walked to load the bases. Parker Shupe then grounded into a force play at second to end the game.
“Theriot did a great job of getting out of that,” Oreskovich said. “If he catches that line drive, it might be a double play or triple play, but he still was able to get an out, and then get out of the inning.”
Spenser had an RBI single in the first inning to tie the game at 1, then his sacrifice fly in the third inning scored Lincoln Riley with Burlington’s second run.
The Bees added two runs in the fourth. Cedric Dunnwald scored on a wild pitch, then Connor Laeng scored on Riley’s groundout.
Kyle Looper (2-0) was the winning pitcher. Tyler Stern (0-3) took the loss.
Photo: Corey Boyette celebrates his double in the fifth inning. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
Those who have stayed for the final three games of the season almost pulled off another big comeback for the Burlington Bees.
Thursday’s 12-7 loss to the Clinton LumberKings in a Prospect League game at Community Field came with a lineup for the Bees that had some new names, and some old names in different positions.
And down 10-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, the Bees rallied to have the potential go-ahead run at the plate in the eighth inning.
That, Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said, says something about the character of the remaining roster.
“I’m just proud of these guys for sticking it out,” Oreskovich said. “That’s a big thing to me. I think it shows maturity and the willingness just to stick with something you committed to, I can’t ask too much more from these guys right now — they’re going out there, they’re still competing, they’re fulfilling what they committed to and I’m very appreciative.”
The final couple of weeks of the summer college season usually leads to roster upheaval, as players leave for their next destination or get some time off before going back to school. Oreskovich was down to nine position players, but will get some reinforcements for the final two games on Friday and Saturday with the return of outfielder Lincoln Riley and first baseman Keanu Spenser.
“We’re set pitching-wise, which is usually the biggest problem at this point in the season,” Oreskovich said. “We’ll have some guys back and that will get us through Saturday.”
The Bees (23-32 overall, 13-15 second half), who were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Tuesday, lost their fifth consecutive game, but nearly pulled off a comeback reminiscent of last Friday’s 10-9 win over Alton, when they rallied from an 8-0 deficit to win in extra innings.
They got two runs in the seventh inning in this game, leaving the bases loaded with two outs, then got four runs in the eighth inning on just one hit, taking advantage of five walks and a hit-by-pitch.
Ian Wolski, who has been the Bees’ catcher all season but was working at first base in this game, batted with the bases loaded. He hit a deep fly ball to left field off Clinton reliever Evan Chung, but the ball was caught on the edge of the warning track by Patrick McGinn, and the inning was over.
“I knew he didn’t get enough of it,” Oreskovich said. “I had a pretty good angle.”
That was it for the Bees, who gave up two runs in the top of the ninth and then went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning to end it.
Sebastian Parchomenko (1-1) was the winning pitcher in relief. Bees starter Adrian Nery (1-4) took the loss.
Coy Sarsfield reached base four times and had two hits for the Bees. Caleb Wulf had two hits and drove in a run, as did Connor Laeng.
The Bees play host to Clinton on Friday, then close the season with a Saturday home game against Quincy.
“I’m telling the guys, just enjoy these games,” Oreskovich said. “I’d still like to win, obviously. I’m just trying to have these guys enjoy these last few games with their buddies, the friends they made this summer.”
Photo: Burlington’s Coy Sarsfield steals third base in the sixth inning of Thursday’s game. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
The Burlington Bees’ hopes at making the Prospect League playoffs suffered plenty of damage in the doubleheader loss to the Thrillville Thrillbillies on Monday at Community Field.
The two defeats — 17-6 in the first game, 8-5 in the second game — put the Bees (23-30 overall, 13-13 second half) 3 ½ games behind the Quincy Gems for the Great River Division’s second-half playoff spot.
Burlington has four games remaining — Wednesday at Clinton, Thursday and Friday at home against Clinton, and Saturday at home against Quincy — with almost no margin for error at this point.
What was frustrating for Bees manager Owen Oreskovich was a play in the second game that switched the momentum and ultimately led to Oreskovich’s ejection.
The Thrillbillies had loaded the bases with no one out in the second inning. Bees starting pitcher Colton Clarahan struck out Cameron Hill for the first out, then got Jaden Correa to hit a comebacker that looked like it was going to be a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning.
Clarahan got the force out at home plate, but Chase Honeycutt’s throw to first base was wide, allowing Charlie Corum to score.
Oreskovich thought Correa was out of the baseline and interfered with the play, and after a short argument was ejected by plate umpire Matthew De Sutter.
“He really didn’t have an explanation, which was kind of why I was even more upset, which is why I went out there,” Oreskovich said. “Bases loaded, no outs. Clarahan gets the strikeout, and then it’s as easy as a double play as it gets. I didn’t think it was a very tough call.”
Hayden Ralls followed with a two-run single and the Thrillbillies led 3-0.
That left the Bees chasing the rest of the game. They got single runs in the third and fourth innings to get within 3-2, then Thrillville scored two runs in the fifth and two in the sixth to take command.
What added to the frustration of the game was the Bees could have gotten more runs in the third inning. They had the bases loaded with no one out after getting their first run, and couldn’t add anything.
“I felt like that inning where we left the bases loaded really took the wind out of us,” assistant coach Nate Robertson said. “We had the bases loaded, couldn’t do anything with it. It felt like every time we were starting to get momentum, the breath just got taken out of us.”
The Bees got two runs in the seventh on Keanu Spenser’s second home run of the night — he had a three-run homer in the first game — for the final margin.
Spenser now has 10 home runs off the season, tied for second most in the league and one behind leader Lucas Loos of Quincy.
The second inning was costly for Bees in the opener. Thrillville got six runs in the inning on just two hits, taking advantage of five walks from starting pitcher Jared Townsend to take a 7-1 lead.
Four Bees pitchers combined to walk 10 Thrillbillies.
“Too many walks in the whole game, and it really bit us hard,” Oreskovich said. “It’s hard to come back when you get behind that much early.”
Photo: Keanu Spenser heads home after hitting his second home run of the night. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
Lincoln Riley just wanted a place to work before he sets off on his biggest college baseball journey.
His former manager with the Burlington Bees had a better idea.
So Riley, who played for the Bees in their first two seasons in the Prospect League, is back for the last couple of weeks.
“It’s good to be back, get some reps in, some (at bats), see the ball off the bat again,” said Riley, an outfielder from Marion, Iowa, who will play his final year of NCAA Division I eligibility this season at Arkansas. “These guys here are pretty cool. It’s nice to be back here in Burlington.”
Burlington, and center field at Community Field, are familiar places for Riley. He played two seasons at Southeastern Community College then played with the Bees while attending Eastern Illinois.
Riley hit .307 at Eastern Illinois, leading the Panthers to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament title and a spot in the NCAA tournament. Eastern Illinois was eliminated in its two games in the Vanderbilt Regional, but getting to experience Southeastern Conference baseball was something he enjoyed.
“I thought it was a really good way to go out,” said Riley, who hit .375 in the two tournament games and was named to the all-regional team. “It was a really good year, historically, for EIU, too. So I thought maybe that was a good way to go out, but then going to the Vandy Regional, that was a blast.’
It was a lot of fun. It was a good experience. Sold-out crowd under the lights. Playoff baseball. You can’t beat that.”
Riley visited three Division I schools — Iowa, Gonzaga, and Arkansas.
“It was pretty stressful,” Riley said. “And I know for coaches, it’s pretty stressful with all of this transfer portal stuff. But at the same time, it was fun, too. I never got to go on a lot of visits when I was in high school.
“I was actually going to hang it up. I wasn’t going to play another year. Then Arkansas called, and I figured it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So I took advantage of that.”
Playing for one of the best programs in the SEC — Arkansas also played in the NCAA tournament — was the biggest selling point.
“I’m looking forward to being around future professional baseball players and surrounded by facilities that are going to develop you and make you a better baseball player — just the whole environment,” he said. “Honestly, they’ve got the best fans in the country, 13,000 fans, something like that. So I’m excited to see what they all have.”
One of the first people Riley called with the news was Bees manager Owen Oreskovich. Riley was working out at home, but wanted something more.
“He’s like, ‘What do you think about me coming down and just like taking (batting practice), fly balls, working out?’” Oreskovich said. “I was like, ‘How about you play some games because it’s free?’”
“It was kind of just me getting work in by myself. It was kind of tough,” Riley said. “So I called up O, asked him if I could get some work in before heading (to Arkansas). Luckily, O and I have a great relationship, and he’s like, ‘Heck yeah, come on down.’”
Riley hit .246 in 18 games with the Bees last season after hitting .237 in 51 games in 2021.
Oreskovich knows what he brings to the team.
“It’s nice to know he’s roaming around center field,” Oreskovich said. “And being very good at bat in the leadoff spot. He’s not going to look stupid up there.
“He’s a great baseball player, and an even better dude. Nobody works harder than that kid.”
Riley is staying with his host family for the last two seasons — Matt and Anika McVey.
“I called them to tell them I was coming and if there was a family that had a spot, and they said, ‘Nope, you’re staying with us,’” Riley said.
Riley has played in two games for the Bees, with one hit in six at-bats. He’ll be back with the team for most of the final week of the regular season.
“I just kind of want to get back into routine, kind of get acclimated to live arms and seeing the ball off the bat, and just being around the guys again, really,” Riley said. “Just continue to have fun. Because you don’t know when it’s going to be (the end).”
Photo: Lincoln Riley is back with the Burlington Bees for the final two weeks of the regular season before heading to Arkansas. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
It wasn’t really a surprise that Mason Schwalbach won the home run derby during the Burlington Bees’ Community Basket Day at Community Field.
The surprise was who finished second.
Schwalbach edged pitcher Matthew Dinae 2-1 in the championship round, capping the two-hour event that improvised after Sunday’s regularly-scheduled Prospect League game was canceled.
Schwalbach is second on the Bees with seven home runs this season, and leads them with a .581 slugging percentage.
He got two in the first round to defeat Cedric Dunnwald, then advanced to the championship round on a tiebreaker.
But Dinae, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound left-hander from the University of New Mexico, challenged Schwalbach.
“I was getting a little nervous there at the end,” Schwalbach said. “He was putting some good swings on the ball.”
Dinae had two home runs to beat Keanu Spenser, the team leader in home runs, in the first round, then had two home runs against Corey Boyette in the semifinals.
He couldn’t get a second one to tie Schwalbach, though.
“Just tried to stay back, and get it into the air,” said Dinae, who was a two-way player at La Cueva High School in Hawaii.
“They wanted to throw a pitcher in there, is what I was told,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “We knew he had been a two-way player.
“He was in the (batting) cages earlier, when I got there this morning. He’s got a great swing. And he’s a big dude, too.”
Dinae wasn’t going to pass up the chance.
“Coach told me, ‘You’re in the home run derby,’ and I was like, ‘OK, cool,’” Dinae said. “ I just tried to do my best, tried to win.”
The home run derby, along with a five-inning intrasquad game before, was part of an event created after Sunday’s game against the Thrillville Thrillbillies was canceled so members of that team could attend the funeral of teammate Ashton Smith, who died Monday.
Community Basket Day, a charity fundraiser that awards a total $10,000 in cash and a basket full of prizes to four winners, is one of the largest events on the Bees’ schedule, so changes were made so fans come to the ballpark for the drawing of the winning tickets.
“I thought it was a great experience, fun for these guys,” said Oreskovich, who had the game-winning sacrifice fly in the intrasquad game. “It was a great, relaxed day for them. We’ve got some good guys on this team. Nobody complained against doing this, like you might get with some teams, some guys, in summer ball, when you’re not playing a game and that’s what they’re here to do. We’ve got an incredible group of guys.”
“It was nice,” Schwalbach said. “Gave us a chance to enjoy ourselves. It wasn’t really an off-day, more of a relaxed (day). Just have fun, make baseball fun again.”
The Bees are two games behind the Quincy Gems for the Great River Division’s second-half playoff spot with six games remaining in the regular season, including Monday’s doubleheader against the Thrillbillies at Community Field. Five of the Bees’ games this week are at home, including Saturday’s regular-season finale against Quincy.
“We’ve got some important games coming up,” Oreskovich said. “Hopefully we can get back to playing good baseball tomorrow, and take it from there.”
Photo: Bees manager Owen Oreskovich (left) celebrates after hitting the game-winning sacrifice fly in Sunday’s intrasquad game at Community Field. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
Jordan Martinez likes the heat of the late innings.
The heat of Iowa in July, well, not so much.
Martinez thrived in both in the Burlington Bees’ 4-3 win over the Alton River Dragons in Thursday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.
The Bees (22-27 overall, 12-10 second half) pulled within a game of the Quincy Gems for the Great River Division’s second-half playoff spot by surviving what could have been a nightmarish ninth inning.
Martinez got out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation by making the pitches that have made him a pitcher that Bees manager Owen Oreskovich has relied on since Martinez arrived almost two weeks ago.
“I’ve got all of the faith in J-Mar,” Oreskovich said.
Four hits and an error, with a couple of bad hops mixed in, gave Alton (18-32, 9-15) two runs in the ninth. But Martinez got Eli Young on a broken-bat grounder that was turned into a force play at home, and retired Kaden Coutts on a line-drive out to right field. Martinez then struck out Jake O’Steen on a 3-2 fastball to end the game.
“I was like, reset, refresh, start now and focus, and that’s what I did,” said Martinez, who recorded his first save.
Martinez, a right-hander from the University of New Mexico, made just five appearances this season with the Lobos, all in relief. Coming to Burlington has allowed him to settle into a late-inning bullpen role.
“I just like all of the stress, all of the pressure,” Martinez said. “It’s amazing. It’s like a rush.”
There’s also been the adjustment to the Midwest weather. The heat index was at 105 degrees when Martinez started the ninth inning.
“The weather is a lot different than in New Mexico,” said Martinez, who grew up in Albuquerque. “It’s not dry (heat).”
Martinez got the Bees out of trouble with a comebacker from Eli Hoerner to end the eighth inning, and then when Corey Boyette hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning, Burlington seemed in control.
‘That turned out to be huge, didn’t it?” Oreskovich said. “I tell them all of the time, if we’re up one, two, three runs in the late innings, get a couple of more. You always want those extra runs to feel better. I mean, it turned out we needed all of that.”
Alton’s Chase Bloomer opened the ninth with a deep fly ball to center field that Lincoln Riley couldn’t get that turned into a double.
“He makes that play nine-and-a-half times out of 10, and that was the half,” Oreskovich said.
Erik Brockmeier singled to move Bloomer to third, then Evan Evola hit what looked to be a double-play grounder, but Jaden Hackbarth couldn’t make a clean pickup. Bloomer scored on the error to cut the lead to 4-2.
Tyson Greene then hit what looked to be another double-play grounder, but it took a bad hop and sailed over second baseman Caleb Wulf’s head for a single, and Brockmeier raced home to get the River Dragons within 4-3. And when Diego Murillo reached on a single, the bases were loaded.
Then came Martinez’s escape.
“That’s a lot of unlucky stuff there,” Oreskovich said. “But J-Mar pitches at a very good school. He’s not going to let something like that affect him. I had all of the faith in the world in him.”
Young’s broken bat got Martinez in the right direction.
“That was great,” Martinez said. “Then (on Coutts’ line drive to right field), a great relay to keep the run from scoring.”
And the pitch to O’Steen?
“All gas,” Martinez said. “Two-seam fastball on the outside of the plate.”
Reece Wissinger allowed one hit in four innings in his first start of the season. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
Martinez capped a strong night of pitching for the Bees. Reece Wissinger, making his first start since joining the team late last week, allowed one hit and struck out six in four innings. Matthew Dinae (2-0) allowed one unearned run in 3 ⅔ innings.
Wissinger, a Burlington native who pitches at Southeastern College in Florida, has worked as a reliever throughout his college career.
“Reece was Reece,” Oreskovich said. “(Making him a starting pitcher) was something they were planning on doing with him next year, is what I was told. That’s why he’s out here — to get a feel for it.”
Wissinger threw 57 pitches, which was around what Oreskovich had planned.
“I was going to take him out after the third, but he said he felt amazing, and wanted one more (inning),” Oreskovich said.
ON DECK: The Bees play host to Alton in a 6:30 p.m. game on Friday. Aiden McGee (2-3) will start for the Bees.
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