Burlington Drops Thriller in Normal

Normal, IL - The Burlington Bees (11-29, 5-6) and Normal Cornbelters (20-19, 6-4) exchanged punches for 10 innings, with the Bees falling short 7-6 at the Corn Crib July 15.

Jeremy Figueroa (Mt.Mercy University) walked and stole second in the first. He finished with three stolen bases in this game to get to five on the season. Corey Boyette (Heartland CC) brought him home on an RBI single. He finished one for four and is up to 15 RBI's on the season.

The third frame saw Figueroa again walk and steal second. He has a .464 on-base percentage in his first seven games. He now has five stolen bases on the season.

Boyette grounded out to move Figueroa to third and Bryce Brown (Mt.Mercy University) grounded out to score him. The scoreboard read 2-2 after a third of the game.

Brown, who hit three homeruns in his previous game, kept his foot on the gas pedal in the fifth.
Figueroa was hit by a pitch to open the inning. He stole second, and Boyette followed with a walk to put two on. Brown launched a shot over th left field wall to make it 5-2.

The blast was his team-leading fifth of the year. He has 14 RBI in seven games. The big infielder finished three for four in this game.

A homerun in the seventh pulled the 'Belters within two. They strung together a rally in the bottom of the ninth to tie it at five.

Nick Meyer (Mt. Mercy University) registered his 20th hit of the season in the top of the tenth with a double that scored ghost runner Merrick Mathews (University of Iowa) from second, making it 6-5. Meyer finished two for four in the game and has 14 RBI's on the season.

The Cornbelters scored two in the bottom of the tenth to walk it off and move Burlington back to below .500 in the second half.

The Bees finished with seven hits, two errors and 11 left on base.

Four pitchers appeared in the game for Burlington. Chase Golden (Western Illinois/Quincy) went three innings in his first start of the year. The righty struck out five and allowed a pair of hits and runs.

Michael Schaul (Mt.Mercy University) took over and tossed three shutout innings with two hits allowed and two strikeouts. He has not allowed a run in 10 straight frames.

Erik Kiewiet (Mt.Mercy University) went the next three, allowing four hits and two earned runs.
Jack Duncan (Western Illinois) received the loss, as he went 0.2 with one earned run and three hits.

Normal used five pitchers, with reliever Trey Bryant getting the win.

Burlington gets an off-day before traveling to take on the Lucky Horseshoes (15-23,7-5) at Robin Roberts Stadium July 16 at 6:30 p.m.