Burlington Throttles Springfield for 9th Straight Win

Burlington, IA – The Burlington Bees (15-7, 26-21) scored 21 runs across the first five innings, which matches a season high for runs in a game, as they throttled the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes (7-11, 18-25) by a final score of 21-2 at Community Field on July 21. With runners on first and third base and two outs in the top of the first, Braden Vanderheydt (Illinois Central) picked up a strikeout to escape the inning without allowing a run. In the bottom of the first, the first two Bees batters were retired in three pitches. Then, a two-out error by Springfield kept the inning alive. Burlington's offense would take advantage with four hits, including RBI singles from Adam Kudronowicz (Iowa Western), Rowen Bergeron (LSU-Eunice), PJ Hamel (McHenry County), and Kolt Kurzman (Mount Mercy) to make the score 4-0. After a 1-2-3 top of the second, the Bees offense would add four more as Kudronowicz, Lane Spieker (Mount Mercy), and Bergeron each had run scoring hits to double the lead. Springfield would score one run in the top of third, but then Burlington would score five more to open their lead to 12. The scoring outbreak for the Bees would continue in the fourth and fifth innings, scoring a combined eight runs to push the lead to 21-1. 

Ty Mikkelsen (Iowa) would pitch the sixth frame, before Brady Richards (Mount Mercy) finished the game with a scoreless top of the seventh. Vanderheydt was the winning pitcher, picking up his first victory of the summer. Bergeron totaled three hits and six RBIs. Hamel and Kurzman each chipped in with three hits, along with a combined seven runners batted in. As a team, the Bees totaled 20 hits, which is their most in a game this season. With the win, the Bees have now won nine consecutive games, their longest win streak in the Prospect League era. They'll aim to keep it rolling tomorrow, as they travel to Quincy to take on the Doggy Paddlers, with first pitch set for 6:30 pm at QU Stadium.