Burlington Sweeps Double Header

Burlington, IA - Twice as nice. In the first double header of the season, the Burlington Bees (17-35, 11-12) brought out the brooms against the Normal Cornbelters (26-26, 12-11)

The Bees continue to be tremendous at home, having won five or their last six to move to 13-13 at Community Field.

The final scores were 6-1 in game one and 11-7 in game two. Both games were seven games affairs and displayed incredible late-game offense.

GAME 1

The day began defensively. Both teams combined for three shutout innings.

Michael Schaul's (Mt.Mercy University) transition to starter has continued to be excellent. The righty went for four innings with four hits and one run. It was his second start and 12th appearance.

Nicholas Currie went for four innings in his first start with Cornbelters.

With two outs, the Bees got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Dillion Kuehl (Des Moines Area CC) walked with two outs. He stole second to get into scoring position.
Landon Akers (Bellarmine) singled to score him for his 17th RBI of the season.

The game was tied at 1-1 until both teams turned to their bullpens, which caused the game to change drastically.

Going into the bottom of the sixth still a tied game, Burlington broke through big.

Bryce Brown (Mt.Mercy University) started it with a single and a stolen base. He finished 1-3 in game one.

Dillion Kuehl (Des Moines Area CC) doubled to score him in what turned into the winning runs. Kuehl went one for one with two walks.

Akers flew out to move Kuehl to third. Merrick Mathews (University of Iowa) followed with a sacrifice fly to score the run. It was his 18th RBI of the season.

With two outsx, the Bees kept the line moving. Cooper Donlin (Hawaii-Pacific) singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Micheal Carrano Jr. (Parkland College) walked to put two on and bring the top of the order up.

Cedric Dunnwald (Mt.Mercy University) singled to score Donlin for his 14th RBI of the season.

Jeremy Figueroa (Mt.Mercy University) joined his college teammate in the RBI party. The righty drove the ball into the gap to clear the bases. Trying to extend the double into a triple, he was thrown out at third.

Both runs scored before the out, giving Burlington the 6-1 lead.

In his debut, reliever Tucker Ladeburg (Wartburg) got the win. The big righty tossed the final two with three strikeouts.

The Bees finished with no errors.

GAME 2

Rain riddled most of the second game, but this did not stop the action.

Both starters were making their Prospect League Debut. Ashr Harris (Mt.Mercy University) tossed five innings for the Bees. He let up seven hits and four earned runs.

Normal's starter, Nicholas Currie, allowed one earned run over four innings.

Burlington got on the board on three consecutive hits in the second. Carrano Jr., Donlin and Christian Dunn (Volunteer State) all singled and scored one.

The Cornbelters tallied one in the second and third to lead 2-1 after three innings. A two run homerun in the fourth extended their lead to 4-1.

The Bees had an answer in the fourth. Donlin started it off with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Jayden Cummings (South Suburban College) walked to put two on with two outs.

Jace Figuereo (Southeastern CC) hit the ball back to the pitcher. The lefty took off for first and a throwing error by the pitcher allowed him to reach and a run to score.

Normal tacked one on more in the fifth to make it 5-2. Running out of momentum, the Bees pulled off a magical two innings.

Kuehl led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk. He finished with three walks in the second game.

Back to back strikeouts from the Bees put two outs on the board.

Donlin singled to put runners on the corner. Dunn came up with another RBI on a single to score one to make it 5-3.

Skyler Agnew (Hawaii-Pacific) came in to pinch hit and took a four pitch walk to load the bases.

Cummings came up with an infield single to score one and keep the bases loaded. He finished with two RBI's.

Now at the top of the order, Figuereo came across with the big hit to give the Bees the lead. His double scored two to make it 6-5.

After a pitching change, Figueroa singled within the infield to score another and make it a two run lead. Burlington managed a five run rally with two outs.

Normal scored two in the top of the sixth to tie it up. The Bees delivered the nail in the coffin in the bottom of the inning.

Brown led off the inning reaching on an error. A groundout moved him to second and a wild pitch got him to third.

Donlin walked and went to second on a wild pitch. He led the team with three hits and runs in the game.

Dunn hit into a sacrifice fly to score Brown. The catcher finished two for three with three RBI's.

Mathews, who came in the game as a defensive substitution for Agnew at first, walked in his first plate appearance of the game.

Cummings brought home one on another infield single. He has four RBI's in his first three games of the season.

Figuereo's magic continued, this time with a triple. It cleared the bases to make the score 11-7. His four RBI days gets him to 10 on the season.

That rally capped off a four run inning to make it nine in two frames. Burlington used two other pitcher's after the starter.

Brady Richards (Sauk Valley CC) went first. The righty tossed one inning with two earned runs allowed. He earned his first win.

Jack Duncan (Western Illinois) tossed the final inning and earned his fifth save. He allowed one hit and no runs to shut the door on the 'Belters.

The Bees finished with 11 hits and 10 RBI's.

Burlington has a quick turnover. The team travels to Nelsoncorp Stadium to take on the Clinton Lumberkings (30-21, 15-10) at 2 p.m. July 28.