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Bees' Pen Is Mightier Than Bandits', 3-1

June 4, 2012 - Midwest League (MWL) Burlington Bees

DAVENPORT, Iowa (6/3/12) - Once again the Burlington Bees (26-30) battled through a pitchers' duel with the Quad Cities River Ban- dits (28-29) in game. But on Sunday, the Bees held on to win 3-to-1 and force a rubber match in game two.

A.J. Cole received the start for the Bees, but the right-hander could only record one out in the first before the two teams endured a rain delay in the bottom of the first inning. Cole left the game with a runner at third base and one out. He also had Colin Walsh at the plate with a 3-and-1 count before the umpires called for a break.

Jeff Urlaub came into the game with the tall task of preventing a big inning from the River Bandits. Walsh came into the game tied for the league lead in home runs with 13 and was second in RBIs with 43. He added another RBI when he grounded the first pitch after the rain delay to second base. Urlaub helped the Bees avoid a bad first inning by forcing Quad Cities to trade an out for a run.

Urlaub would go on to have a great performance against Quad Cities. He pitched a season-high 4.2 innings and only allowed three hits. He didn't walk a batter and struck out four. Urlaub (4-2) came into the game with the team's best WHIP with a mark of 0.836 and the best walk-to-strikeout ratio. The lefty now has 17 strikeouts to only one walk this season.

Of course Urlaub couldn't earn the win without help from the Bees' offense. Despite only producing four hits in the games, the Bees were efficient and scored three runs on a couple of home runs from their three and four hitters in the lineup. B.A. Vollmuth lifted a ball to centerfield that slammed off the batters eye over 400 feet from home plate. The monster shot tied the game 1-to-1 in the fourth inning and gave Vollmuth his first home run since May 11 against Cedar Rapids.

Vollmuth's home run tied him with Douglas Landaeta for the highest mark on the team with five dingers. But Landaeta didn't seem to appreciate the company yanked a ball in the sixth inning over the leftfield wall. The two-run homer gave the Bees a 3-to-1 lead that wasn't easy to maintain.

Chas Mye did his best to preserve the score; the lefty pitched two scoreless innings after Urlaub's strong outing. Mye only allowed two base runners and struck out two batters en route to his second hold of the season. Mye gave way to Jonathan Joseph in the eighth inning.

Joseph walked Roberto De La Cruz to lead off the bottom of the eighth and then allowed a towering fly ball down the leftfield line by Matt Williams. Rashun Dixon came out of nowhere to track down the ball on a sliding grab on the warning track that followed a long run. The Bandits kept attacking and loaded the bases with two outs before Joseph was able to force a ground ball out to end the inning and strand the tying run at second base.

The Bees allowed a runner to reach second base in the bottom of the ninth, but Joseph was able to strike out De La Cruz to end the game and earn his second consecutive save.

The Bees play game three with the River Bandits on Monday. First pitch of the rubber match is scheduled for 7 p.m. For information on Bees baseball and promotions, call (319) 754-5705 or visit www.gobees.com.

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Midwest League Stories from June 4, 2012


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