By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

It’s the final two weeks of the Prospect League’s regular season, and two natural occurrences are happening to the Burlington Bees’ roster.

There are players leaving, and there are some players coming in just to get some innings and some at-bats before the summer ends.

The new players for the Bees all had significant moments in Monday’s game against Clinton at Community Field, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 4-2 loss to the LumberKings.

The Bees’ roster is down to 29 players — league rules allow up to 40 players — and it’s something Owen Oreskovich has grown accustomed to in his three seasons as manager.

“It’s always challenging this time of year,” Oreskovich said. “You don’t really know until you’ve got to deal with it. It’s different every year. It’s just a different challenge we have to take on every day.”

The newcomers all played a part in the game.

Michael Carrano Jr., whose first game with the Bees was nine days ago, provided Burlington’s only runs with a two-run home run in the second inning.

Justin Hackett, a right-handed pitcher from Iowa, got his first start for the Bees. Hackett, who is commuting between Iowa City and Burlington for his starts, struck out five in four innings, but was touched for three runs in the third inning on just two hits. He closed strong, striking out the side in the fourth inning.

“He lost a little bit (in the third),” Oreskovich said. “But (the fourth) will really benefit him, the way he finished.”

Brady Richards, who made his first appearance for the Bees five days ago, allowed one run over four innings, getting big plays behind him to get out of two jams.

Richards allowed a walk and a double to open the fifth. Jalen Martinez singled to right field to score Jaden Hackbarth, but first baseman Merrick Mathews made a smart play cutting off Cooper Donlin’s throw home, and threw out Martinez at second base. Richards then got out of the inning without allowing any more runs.

Richards walked the first two hitters of the sixth, then got Noah Gordon to hit a grounder to third baseman Skyler Agnew. Agnew tried to tag out Brett White coming from second to third, but base umpire Jacob Hudson ruled White was out of the baseline and called him out. Agnew threw to second for the force out, but the throw to first for a possible triple play was just a bit late. Richards then struck out Hackbarth, then retired the next six hitters to end his night.

“Brady’s been really good both times he’s pitched for us,” Oreskovich said.

The Bees, who had eight hits, had runners in scoring position in the eighth and ninth innings, but couldn’t score.

“We got the hits, we just didn’t get them at the right time,” Oreskovich said.

Clinton starter Blake Gaskey (1-0), making his first appearance of the season, allowed six hits and struck out five over six innings without walking anyone. Gaskey pitched for the Bees early last season, and also played two seasons at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington before pitching at Ohio this season.

The Bees (8-9 second half) fell 3 ½ games behind the LumberKings for the Northwest Division’s second-half playoff spot with 10 games left in the season.

Photo: Bees catcher Michael Carrano Jr. (39) celebrates his home run with Merrick Mathews and Boston Halloran. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

It got loud at Community Field, that late-season-need-a-win kind of loud.

Ninety decibels, according to the watch of one fan, as Bryce Brown’s double sliced the right-center field gap and Jeremy Figueroa and Corey Boyette raced home with the tying and winning runs as the Burlington Bees defeated the Clinton LumberKings, 7-6, on Saturday night.

The second largest crowd of the season — attendance was announced at 2,262 — saw the Bees continuously slug back at their Northwest Division rivals, overcoming a crucial call in the ninth inning to close within three games of the LumberKings for the division’s second-half spot in the Prospect League playoffs.

“We’re trying to make a playoff push, so every win matters,” said Brown, who had three hits to push his batting average to .391. “Every game matters, especially against them, because we’re a few games back.

“Great crowd. Great vibe here tonight.”

“Big crowd — it was awesome,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “I love having them here. You know, it felt like a playoff atmosphere. It’s nice to play in front of crowds like this.

“They had our backs tonight.”

The Bees looked to be in position to tie the game earlier in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Cooper Donlin singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Donlin then appeared to advance to third base on Cedric Dunnwald’s flyout to center field, but after an appeal base umpire Jacob Hudson ruled Dunnwald had left early and called him out.

“I asked (Hudson) for an explanation, he said (Donlin) left early, so…” Oreskovich said, shrugging.

The call looked even bigger when Figueroa hit a slow ground ball to shortstop, reaching on an error. Boyette then followed with a single, bringing up Brown.

“We could have just rolled over there after that call,” Brown said. “Then we get the grounder and then the line drive to right field to bring me up. That doesn’t happen if we roll over.”

Brown then drilled the ball into the gap. Figueroa scored easily, and then Boyette was waved in, easily beating the throw to the plate.

That’s when it really got loud.

“The guys in front of me extended the game,” Brown said. “I knew I was going to get a ball in the (strike) zone, because he’s not going to spike a pitch in that situation.”

“We had some good hitters coming up after Figgy there, so I knew we had a chance,” Oreskovich said. “I was confident. Brownie’s probably swinging the hottest back in the Prospect League right now.

“We had three good hitters step up, get on base. That was huge.”

The Bees tied the game twice and led once through the first six innings, then, trailing 6-5, held the LumberKings scoreless the rest of the game. Jack Duncan pitched 2 ⅓ scoreless innings in relief of starter Michael Schaul, then Erik Kiewiet (2-1) got the win, getting out of a bases-loaded situation in the ninth without giving up a run.

“Just great pitching there late, and I thought Mike did a good job with the start,” Oreskovich said.

It was the fifth consecutive home win for the Bees.

“Our guys don’t give up,” Oreskovich said. “They’re showing a lot of resilience right now.”

“Huge win.”

Photo: Bryce Brown follows through on his game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth inning (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

The errors always seem to come at a bad time for the Burlington Bees.

Three errors led to three unearned runs in Wednesday’s 11-5 loss to the Clinton LumberKings in a Prospect League game at Community Field.

The Bees fell to 0-2 in the second half, and while manager Owen Oreskovich said he felt like his team was getting ready to break through after a 6-23 first half, the costly mistakes keep holding them back.

The Bees are tied for third in the league with 55 errors leading to 44 unearned runs. 

Two throwing errors in the fifth and sixth innings helped Clinton build a 9-3 lead, and kept the Bees from mounting a comeback.

“That seems to be nothing new with how the summer has gone so far,” Oreskovich said. “It’s one of those things we can’t seem to kick.”

Each team had 13 hits, but the LumberKings (3-0) made the most of theirs. Six of the Bees’ hits came with two outs, which kept any sort of rally from developing.

“We need to get hits before there are two outs, which would be another beneficial thing,” Oreskovich said.

Clinton built a 5-0 lead in the first two innings off Bees starter Jackson Wohlers. Wohlers was hit on the right hip by a line drive from Rayth Peterson, who was the second batter of the game. Four of the five outs Wohlers got in the game were strikeouts, but Oreskovich wondered if the line drive played a role in his struggles.

“I can’t fully say that it affected him,” Oreskovich said. “But it had something to do with it. His slider wasn’t there very much after that, it was kind of staying flat. And his fastball was flat. It was his hip, so trying to push off, it could have affected him.”

The Bees got solid relief pitching. Joe Evans allowed two unearned runs and struck out four in 3 ⅓ innings. Vinny Mauro allowed just one earned run in three innings. 

The Bees got two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Keanu Spenser scored on Skyler Agnew’s sacrifice fly to deep right field. Cooper Donlin, who extended his hitting streak to 16 games and on-base streak to 20 games, scored on a wild pitch.

“I like his approach at the plate,” Oreskovich said of Donlin’s streak. “He just gets in the box and does his thing.”

Agnew hit a home run in the fifth inning. Corey Boyette drove in a run with a single in the seventh, then added an RBI single in the ninth.

Photo: Burlington’s Skyler Agnew (left) is greeted by teammate Christian Dunn after his fifth-inning home run. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

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)

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Clinton’s late-inning fireworks had plenty of pop, and it wasn’t a fun show for the Burlington Bees to watch.

The LumberKings scored seven runs over the last four innings, including a devastating four-run outburst in the ninth, then fought off a late Bees comeback for a 10-6 win in Monday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.

Clinton (17-11), the first-half Great River Division champions, started the second half strong with 11 hits. The Bees (10-18) had 10 hits, but couldn’t match the LumberKings’ run production after taking a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning.

“We had one less hit than them,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “We probably could have done a better job scratching another run or two off them when we had a chance early.”

Bees reliever Ryan Donley (2-1) gave up three runs in the sixth inning, then the LumberKings got four runs off Nick Tampa in the ninth.

The Bees had their chances in the eighth and ninth innings.

Down 6-4 in the eighth, Mason Schwalbach opened the inning with a single. Keanu Spenser then hit a deep fly ball to right field that looked like it was going to get out to tie the game, but the ball struck off the fence. Clinton right fielder Trevor Burkhart made a perfect throw to get Spenser at second base.

With Schwalbach on third, reliever Nick Scanlon retired Coy Sarsfield on a soft line drive to second base for the second out. Caleb Wulf followed with a slicing fly ball that carried down the left-field line, but Jeremy Conforti chased it down to end the inning.

The Bees had one more rally in them in the ninth. Corey Boyette’s bases-loaded single to center field scored Ian Wolski, then Schwalbach followed with a deep fly ball to right field that Burkhart caught on the warning track. Jaden Hackbarth scored on the play, then Spenser’s flyout to center field ended the game.

“Our guys hit some balls hard today,” Oreskovich said. “They gave us a chance.”

Donley, who pitched a scoreless fifth inning, walked three and allowed two hits in the fifth inning, including a two-run single to Conforti. Tampa faced just five batters, hitting one and walking two before allowing a bases-loaded triple to Brandon Vlcko.

“I’ll take the blame for some of that,” Oreskovich said. “I should have gotten a couple of those pitchers out of there earlier.”

Clinton starter Drew Proskovec, a left-hander from Iowa, retired the first 11 Bees he faced before three consecutive singles by Schwalbach, Spenser and Sarsfield gave Burlington its first run.

The Bees then got three runs in the fifth on Schwalbach’s bases-loaded double to left-center field.

Logan Romasanta (3-1) was the winning pitcher.

Oreskovich knows what his team has to do in the second half.

“We’ve just got to be better on the mound in certain situations,” he said. “Control what we can control, taking breaths, or whatever it’s got to be, to slow yourselves down, whatever it’s got to be, instead of being sped up, rushing it, and not being able to throw the pitch you want when you’re all over the place.

“As an offense, you can’t tell them much. You just have to have some guys step up at the right time.”

NOTES: Clinton used two Iowa pitchers — Proskovec and Ben DeTaeye. DeTaeye allowed just one hit and struck out three in two scoreless innings. … Attendance was 2,842 on a night that featured a post-game fireworks show.

Photo: Bees designated hitter Mason Schwalbach drove in four runs in Monday’s game. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)