By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Griffen Bushnell plans to be back with the Burlington Bees later this season.

His goodbye-for-now single in the 10th inning of Thursday’s Prospect League game against the Quincy Doggy Paddlers at Community Field was quite the parting gift.

Bushnell’s hit through the drawn-in infield brought in Caleb Seibers with the winning run, giving the Bees a 6-5 win, their fifth consecutive victory.

Bushnell, a junior at Mount Mercy University, was with the Bees on a temporary basis to start the season, and this was his last game before he goes home to Eugene, Oregon.

“What’s next for me is I’m going to head home, get some training in and go to a couple family weddings, and then hope to be back here later in the season,” Bushnell said.

“I know he loves it here,” said Bees manager Owen Oreskovich, who also coached Bushnell at Mount Mercy. “The guys love him. They want him back. They were telling me, ‘Griff’s got to come back.’”

But there was still a game to play for Bushnell, and he provided the big hit at the end.

Seibers started the inning on second base with the league’s extra-inning rule, and moved to third base on Nolan Grawe’s fly out to center field.

Quincy’s infield was drawn in to try to prevent the run from scoring, but Bushnell’s hard grounder went through the hole on the left side to bring in Seibers.

“I just wanted to stay simple up there,” Bushnell said. “I know it’s bigger than me, bigger than this game.

“It means everything to me. God is good, that’s all I can say. I prayed before I went up there, and just to be able to go out and have the opportunity to compete for these guys is just a big blessing.”

“I’m so proud of Griff,” Oreskovich said. “All the work he put in this year, all credit to that kid. He works so hard, and he deserves that right there.”

The Bees (6-2) found themselves in position to win after reliever Braeden Sunken (2-0) kept the Doggy Paddlers from scoring in the ninth and 10th innings. Sunken struck out Skylar Graham to end the ninth inning with a runner on third, then got three ground-ball outs in the 10th.

“That kid is incredible,” Oreskovich said of Sunken. “He’s a special guy to have on this team. And he’s just a special baseball player.He’s pretty talented too, so that also helps. Hats off to him — every time he’s gone out there, he’s done his job.”

The Bees led 1-0 after five innings behind starting pitcher Reese Ellison, who didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning. Quincy tied the game in the sixth, then took the lead with three runs in the seventh, but Burlington scored four runs in the bottom of the inning for a 5-4 lead. The Doggy Paddlers tied the game in the eighth on an unearned run.

“These guys fight — I’ve been saying it since I got here,” Oreskovich said. “Got some guys from winning schools — they just know how to win. All credit to those guys. They’re the ones who put in the work and go out there and play every day.”

Top photo: Griffen Bushnell (left) and Braeden Sunken celebrate the Bees’ 6-5 win over Quincy on Thursday night. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Prospect League David Brauer knew that it was only a matter of time that in a summer league of college baseball players, the subject of letting players take advantage of their name, image and likeness was going to be something that would be an issue.

“You can’t bury your head in the sand about it,” Brauer said in a recent video conference with the league’s media. “It’s here. It’s here to stay, and it’s a vital part of college athletics.”

It’s why several teams in the league, including the Burlington Bees, are doing NIL events to help players offset costs to play in the league. Players pay a $600 fee to play a full season, $350 to play in the second half.

“That’s how we’re selling it,” said Bees director of baseball operations Ted Gutman. “That’s how we’re presenting it to them. We’re saying you will get NIL money. We’re going to start out small. You’ll get a little bit this year. Everybody will get something. It might not be much. Hopefully next year, it’s more something.”

“When we talk about NIL, we’re not talking about … it’s not the million-dollar recruitment of a quarterback, by any stretch,” Brauer said. “It’s not being out recruiting a player from one team to another.”

Gutman has approached area businesses about having Bees players in for appearances — three players, for example, went to the Black Water Mini Golf and Mississippi Moon Ice Cream Parlor in downtown Burlington the night before the Bees’ home opener last week. The Bees are also planning a baseball card set, with a percentage of the sales going to the players, and are looking at other merchandising ideas in the future.

“It’s a starting point,” Gutman said. “So much of it is timing, because our season is so short (58 games in two months). We’ve got 29 games to sell whatever we’re going to sell, or we’ve got 60 days or a little more to move them around, to do appearances, and half of those days they’re going to be gone.”

The Prospect League also partners with NOCAP Sports, a college sports marketing company that can help with questions about what kind of NIL ideas are allowed, or not allowed, by NCAA rules.

“Our purpose behind that was two-fold,” Brauer said. “One, to provide guardrails for our teams that want to get involved in NIL, so that they’re doing it correctly and not going to jeopardize any eligibility situations. And then there’s the educational standpoint. We run the gamut of backgrounds for our players — the SEC players and Big Ten players, for example, they’ve got all these resources on campus. So they’re getting the guidance they know how to build their brand and utilize it to their advantage. But some of the smaller-school players, maybe they’re just starting out and this gives them some education and some opportunities to do so.”

“Any time I have a question about something, I call them,” Gutman said. “I’ve got to be careful. They’ve told me what I can and can’t do when I solicit opportunities. They’ve been very helpful.”

Brauer said promotional appearances can be beneficial to the teams as well.

“I think it ultimately just forms a bond with the community, having the players out and about,” Brauer said. “They’re visible. Kids look up to them and want to go get autographs and get pictures and that type of thing. And for the player, getting a little pocket money in the summer, that’s a big thing for a college kid. And so the more we can do and make it more appealing to come to our league, we want to do those things. We want to embrace NIL and utilize it as much as possible.”

“We have to try,” Gutman said. “It doesn’t hurt to do this. It helps us stay competitive in the league with trying to find players.”

Photo: Bees pitcher Danny Harris signs an autograph for a fan after an on-field contest at last Tuesday’s season opener. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

It wasn’t the cleanest of games, but a win coming off a good first week of the season?

Yeah, Burlington Bees manager Owen Oreskovich will take that.

The Bees defeated the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes 8-5 in Sunday’s Prospect League game at Community Field to extend their winning streak to three games.

Burlington took advantage of Springfield’s pitching struggles to build an early 6-1 lead, but the Lucky Horseshoes made the game close because of three unearned runs from the Bees.

“It wasn’t pretty,” Oreskovich said. “And I think all of the guys agree with me. We’ve got to play clean baseball. Three errors led to runs every time, and we’ve got to clean that up.”

Still, Oreskovich, who went through the Bees’ 6-23 first half last season, knew his team had a good week.

“Absolutely. I’m not complaining about a win, by any means,” he said. “We’re off to a good start, and we’ve got to keep it rolling. This group seems like they’ve got a great chance to do that. And you know, we’re still missing a few key guys as well that are going to help us win some games. So that’s exciting as well.”

The Bees opened the season with a win at home at Quincy, then after two losses at Normal on Wednesday and Thursday bounced back with two wins at Clinton on Friday and Saturday.

Coming home and keeping that streak going, second baseman Ryan Skwarek said, was important.

“Huge,” he said. “Coming back after those two losses, getting the wins (at Clinton) and then coming home and getting a win, it’s big for us.”

Every Bees hitter reached base — Skwarek got on base four times and scored twice.

“We’re coming together as a team,” Skwarek said. “We’re still getting to know each other, but we’re just getting comfortable with one another, and we’re hunting pitches early and getting on base when we need to.”

The Bees got four runs in the first inning off Springfield starter Joey Woods (0-1), who left the game without recording an out. Burlington had just two hits in the inning — a leadoff single from Connor Kave and a run-scoring single by Corey Boyette — and benefitted from two hit batters, two wild pitches and a walk.

Burlington added single runs over the next four innings to help starting pitcher Jackson Rodgers (1-0) and three relievers.

Rodgers, the opening night starter for the Bees, struck out six and didn’t walk anyone in five innings to get the win.

Sunday’s game started a week in which the Bees play six games at home.

“It’s a good start, like I said,” Oreskovich said. “We just need to keep it rolling.”

NOTES: Kave extended his hitting streak to five games. Boyette, Skwarek, Caleb Seibers Conor Fitzpatrick and Keanu Spenser are on three-game hitting streaks. … The Bees play host to Normal in a noon game on Monday.

Box score

Top photo: Bees first baseman Keanu Spenser digs out a throw for the out on Springfield’s Jack Swaney.