Somewhere in the almost four hours of nine innings of baseball at Community Field was a play that Burlington Bees manager Owen Oreskovich wants his players to remember.

It came in the fifth inning of the Bees’ 16-7 loss to the Normal CornBelters, when Burlington third baseman Skyler Agnew, chasing a foul ball that was heading toward the grandstands, made the catch as he crashed into the wall, tumbling over the railing.

Agnew was OK, and although Oreskovich said he didn’t get a good look at the play, he appreciated the play and he hoped his players did the same.

“I really love and respect that he’s giving his best effort, no matter what, and that was a hell of a play,” Oreskovich said. “That was a great catch and a great play and great effort.”

The Bees, though, are on a four-game losing streak. They have given up double-digit runs in three of those games.

So, getting back to Agnew’s play…

“It shows he cares,” Oreskovich said. “And that’s one thing I’ve been talking to the assistant coaches about is finding guys that care. Because this is unacceptable. Again, we have enough runs and enough hits to win a game tonight. We can’t get it done on the mound — we’re walking too many guys and letting too many guys get on base.

“That’s aggravating. It might be the most aggravating thing I’ve seen.”

The CornBelters had the leadoff man reach base in seven of the nine innings, and six of them scored. Bees pitchers walked nine hitters, and four scored.

“We’ve got to get ahead,” Oreskovich said. “Too many walks. I’d almost rather give up 10 home runs, because you’re throwing strikes.”

Five Bees pitchers combined to throw 210 pitches, with 122 for strikes.

“Make them earn it,” Oreskovich said. “Throw strikes, you’ve got seven guys behind you who can make plays.”

The Bees (5-15) had nine hits in the game, which lasted 3 hours, 59 minutes. Agnew had two hits, including a two-run home run, and drove in three runs. Cooper Donlin and Cedric Dunnwald each had two hits.

“We’re getting guys on base, and we’re scoring runs,” Oreskovich said. “And then there have been nights where we’ve gotten good pitching and not done that. I really don’t know what to say anymore. It’s tough.”

Logan Barnett (1-1) was the winning pitcher. Shea Blanchard (0-2) was the losing pitcher.

Photo: Skyler Agnew celebrates his two-run home run in the second inning. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

It was a crazy story, Burlington Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said.

Oreskovich said that Bees pitching coach Tyler Richards had a prediction before Monday’s Prospect League game against the Normal CornBelters at Community Field.

“He says he thinks Nick Meyer is hitting a home run today,” Oreskovich said.

There was a problem, though.

Meyer wasn’t in the starting lineup.

“(Richards) said, ‘Pinch hit,’” Oreskovich said.

So, of course, Meyer gets into the game and hits a grand slam in the fifth inning to give the Bees a 7-4 win.

“When he hit, I pointed right to (Richards) in the dugout,” Oreskovich said, laughing.

Meyer’s first home run of the season came at the perfect time for the Bees (5-11), who had let a 3-0 lead slip away when the CornBelters scored two runs in the fourth inning and two in the fifth.

Meyer wasn’t in the game to start, but he came in after starting catcher Tucker Gibbar went out with a cramp after a single in the fourth inning. Meyer came to the plate with two outs in the fifth, and pounded a pitch from Normal reliever Zach O’Donnell (1-1) over the left-field fence.

“He got it good,” Oreskovich said.

“Just be ready to go and be aggressive early,” Meyer said of his approach. “I got my pitch and didn’t miss it.”

Oreskovich is Meyer’s hitting coach at Mount Mercy, so he knows what Meyer can do, although Meyer didn’t get too many chances this spring. He was a backup catcher behind starter Trent Hoogerwerf, and only had two hits in 17 at-bats.

“He just kind of sat back and learned and listened,” Oreskovich said. “I think it was the best thing for him and I think it’s a good thing for us going into school next year.”

“You’ve got to work really hard, earn everything, earn your spot,” Meyer said. “You’ve got to come out here and compete.”

Meyer is hitting .323 for the Bees this summer, but it’s not just his approach at the plate that Oreskovich likes.

“I just love the way he’s catching right now,” Oreskovich said. “The way he is back there, it’s huge.

“And then his at-bats. He’s not taking anything for granted. He’s going up there with a job-to-do mentality, just like if we were at school.”

“It’s amazing,” Meyer said. “I’m getting a lot of confidence. I feel good at the plate.”

The Bees took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Cedric Dunnwald was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in the first run, then Boston Halloran added a sacrifice fly.

Reese Moore’s single in the second inning drove in Jackson Reid for a 3-0 lead, but the CornBelters (8-11) finally got to Bees starting pitcher Noah Harbin in the fourth inning.

Harbin had faced the minimum through the first four innings, but Normal got two unearned runs off him in a four-hit inning. Will Jesske’s double off Bees reliever Zach Leuschen in the fifth put the CornBelters up 4-3.

Leuschen (1-1) pitched 2 ⅔ scoreless innings after that, then Jack Duncan got his second save by pitching out of a bases-loaded situation in the ninth.

“Harbin did a great job,” Oreskovich said. “Leuschen did a phenomenal job after he settled in. Duncan was great — he pitched himself into a little jam there, and then he got his outs.”

The Bees have split their last four games after going through a four-game losing streak, but Oreskovich likes the way his team is developing.

“Guys are getting their at-bats, and they’re starting to get comfortable,” Oreskovich said. “I mean, it feels like it’s right there. Sometimes in games there are one or two things that don’t go your way, and that kind of decides what happens. It’s just the way it goes.

“Our guys are putting their work in — it’s not like they’re sitting at home and waiting to come to the ballpark at 3 o’clock. I like to see that.”

“We’re starting to have a lot more fun playing,” Meyer said. “We’re playing as a team now. We’re putting good at-bats together, good things are starting to happen, and we’re having fun.”

Photo: Nick Meyer makes contact on his fifth-inning grand slam. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Their seven-games-in-six-days odyssey complete, the Burlington Bees headed up the hill to get out of Normal’s Corn Crib and get on the bus for one final time.

The Bees split a doubleheader with the Normal CornBelters on Sunday, losing the first game 5-3 and winning the second 15-5, completing a 2-5 road trip that included more than 1,500 miles of travel, games in four different states, and one bus breakdown on an Ohio interstate that left the team stranded for almost three hours.

“That was a long trip, man,” sighed Bees manager Owen Oreskovich as we watched his team walk across the artificial turf to the outfield exit.

“It’s been a lot,” said third baseman Connor Laeng. “But to finish with a win, it feels pretty good.”

The Bees left home last Tuesday morning in first place in the Prospect League’s Great River Division and on a four-game winning streak. But after a 14-8 win at Lafayette on Tuesday night, the Bees:

— Lost 20-1 at Champion City on Wednesday.

— Lost 11-10 to Johnstown on Thursday after rallying from a 10-0 deficit to tie the game, only to give up a run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

— Lost 8-3 to Johnstown on Friday.

— Lost 8-4 to Champion City on Saturday after being stuck along the highway waiting for a new bus after their bus suffered a severe mechanical issue.

— Led 2-0 early in Sunday’s first game before giving up three runs in the third inning and two in the fourth.

Then came the second game, when the Bees struck for six runs in the second inning, then added four runs each in the fourth and fifth innings.

“I thought in most of the games, we were doing some things right, we were just behind early,” Oreskovich said. “Guys fought in that last game, and I’m glad they did that. 

“The Lafayette game was really good for us, and I thought it was going to take a different turn for us this trip. We were very not good against Champion City — we got smacked around by them and I kind of lit into our guys a little bit. Then we come out in the first game against Johnstown and fell behind again.”

Laeng was one of the offensive standouts of the second game, going 3-for-5 and driving in five runs.

Laeng closed the road trip going 6-of-11 in the last three games, a bright spot in a season in which he has struggled to hit the ball. He opened the season without a hit in his first 35 at-bats, and he had just two hits all season heading into the road trip. 

“Obviously I didn’t get off to a good start,” Laeng said. “But it was nice to finally find some holes.”

Such a cold streak left Laeng looking for answers.

“It’s been tough,” Laeng said. “Talked a lot to my parents, talked to a lot of different people.

“It was a grind, I won’t lie.”

This whole week was a grind for every Bee. And yet, Burlington comes home 6-6, a half-game out of the division’s second-half playoff spot. They see the two teams ahead of them in the standings for that spot — Quincy and Illinois Valley — five times in the next five days.

The Bees complete a suspended game with Quincy on Monday at Community Field before playing a seven-inning regularly-scheduled game. They play host to Illinois Valley on Tuesday, then after an off-day play at Illinois Valley Thursday and Friday.

“We’re still in a good spot,” Laeng said.

Then he smiled.

“Just looking forward to getting home,” Laeng said.

“Let these guys get into the beds they’ve been sleeping in all season and relax a little bit,” Oreskovich said. “Then let’s get back at it tomorrow.”

By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Aiden McGee had to think about what was his longest baseball road trip so far in college.

“Went up to Crookston, Minnesota,” said McGee, a pitcher for the Burlington Bees who plays his college baseball at Minnesota State University in Mankato. “That’s about seven or eight hours from Mankato. That was quite the trip — we actually played a tripleheader that day because the weather wasn’t cooperating.”

The Bees are about to head out on quite the road trip. After Monday’s 7-3 win over the Normal CornBelters in a Prospect League game at Community Field, the Bees leave town on Tuesday to begin a seven-games-in-six-days trip that will take them to four states and on a bus for more than 1,500 miles.

The Bees play Tuesday night at Lafayette (Indiana), Wednesday against the Champion City Kings (Springfield, Ohio), Thursday and Friday against the Johnston (Pennsylvania) Mill Rats, back to play Champion City on Saturday, and then a doubleheader against the Cornbelters in Normal, Ill., on Sunday.

Burlington will take plenty of momentum on the road. The Bees (14-18 overall, 4-1 second half), on a four-game winning streak, lead the Great River Division by a half-game over first-half champion Clinton.

“I feel like everything right now with this team is, ‘Let’s go, full go,’ Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “The momentum helps, obviously. Right now I feel like we’re in a pretty good place. Hopefully we can stay this way.”

McGee (2-2), a reliever all season for Minnesota State, has been working as a starter for the Bees. He threw five innings in this game, his second longest start of the season — he threw six innings in a 4-1 win at Jackson on June 17. McGee allowed just four hits and four walks to go with four strikeouts.

“I’ve only had one other start of five or six innings, so I’m glad I was able to get it going, put some zeroes up,” McGee said.

It’s been an education with his new role, McGee said.

“Just using my off-speed earlier, and then my fastball will stay through five or six innings,” he said. “That’s probably been the toughest part is locating the off-speed for strikes early on, because if I throw a fastball every time I’ll be gassed by the second (inning).”

The Bees gave McGee a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Mason Schwalbach’s RBI single and Caleb Wulf’s sacrifice fly, but Normal (18-16, 3-4) came back with two runs in the second inning.

“Early on, the fastball was working,” McGee said. “Second inning, a couple of them got away from me, so I went to the cutter and I was using that to get ahead. Started to get some soft contact, some fly balls, defense was working for me, and the bats kept going. Everything came together.”

The Bees’ offense picked up McGee with a run in the second on Jaden Hackbarth’s single, and then added three runs in the third.

“I know they’ve got my back,” McGee said of the offense. “I was a little upset giving up two after we scored two. It was right back to a tie game.”

McGee settled in after the second inning, allowing just a third-inning single and two walks in the fifth.

“McGee worked out of some stuff there early, really dug deep, worked through it, and did a hell of a job there,” Oreskovich said. “His first couple of innings, he was getting 3-2 counts on seemingly everybody. We kept telling him, ‘Hey, you’ve got to get ahead early.’ Make them put the ball play and get themselves out.”

Nick Tampa, Drew Martin and Jake Jakubowski finished the game for the Bees, allowing just one run and two hits over the final four innings.

The Bees had 10 hits, including three from Hackbarth, who drove in three runs, and two from Tanner Holland and Keanu Spenser.

Now it’s time to hit the road.

“It’s going to be a lot, a lot of baseball in six days,” McGee said. “So we’re going to need everyone, and I think we’ve got everybody in the right mindset to do that.”

“Bus leaves at 10 a.m.,” Oreskovich said, smiling.

NOTES: Corey Boyette has started his time with the Bees with a six-game hitting streak, batting .333 in the stretch. … Schwalbach has a five-game hitting streak (.381). … Spenser has a five-game hitting streak (.400). … Hackbarth is hitting .600 over the last three games.

Photo: Bees third baseman Brandon Bickford scores one of his two runs in Monday’s game. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)