Bees Bullpen Dominates in Win Over Paddlers

Burlington, IA – Ty Mikkelsen (Iowa) and Foti Rigopoulos (Illinois) combined to toss 5 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, with Rigopoulos picking up the win while retiring all 10 Paddlers he faced as the Burlington Bees (19-8, 30-22) scored the final eight runs of the game to defeat the Quincy Doggy Paddlers (9-14, 25-25) by a final score of 10-4 at Community Field on July 26. 

The scoring started in the bottom of the second inning, when Kolt Kurzman (Mount Mercy) drove in Rowen Bergeron (LSU-Eunice). 

Quincy would score four times across the next two frames with Burlington scoring a run in the bottom of the third off an RBI double from Bergeron. 

The Bees scored eight runs in the final four frames, with one in the fifth on a Bergeron single before a pair of bases loaded walks in the sixth to put them in front 5-4. RBIs from Johnnie Ankenbruck (Huntington) and Kurzman capped off a two-run bottom ofthe seventh on four hits to stretch the lead to three. 

Then, Burlington would open the scoring more in the bottom of the eighth, as RBIs from Lane Spieker (Mount Mercy), Tate Slagle (Iowa), and Ankenbruck extended the lead to 10-4.

With the win, Burlington has reached the 30-win mark for the second consecutive season. Their five-game homestand to conclude the home slate continues Tuesday at 6:30 pm, taking on Quincy once again. That follows tomorrow night's Community Basket Extravaganza, which is scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm at Community Field.