MWL1 Burlington Bees

Bees Blanked in Pitchers' Duel

Published on April 19, 2012 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Burlington Bees News Release


BURLINGTON, Iowa - The Bees pitching staff looked great, but the Lansing Lugnuts looked excel- lent on the mound en route to a 2-0 win over the Bees. Bees' hurler, Raul Alcantara has his best start of the season, but it wasn't quite good enough in a contest that featured 12 top-30 prospects.

The Lugnuts sent two top-prospects to the hill and both looked equally effective. In fact, both pitchers tossed three innings and each gave up one hit while striking out three apiece. Justin Nicolino is the fifth ranked pros- pect in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system and started the game for the Lugnuts. Aaron Sanchez is the sixth ranked prospect in the Jays organization and earned the win.

The Bees countered with right-hander Raul Alcantara (0-2) who had his best outing of the season. Alcantara is also considered a top-30 prospect and looked like one on Thursday night. He faced trouble in the first inning when he allowed the first two runners to reach. But the 19-year-old regained his focus and ended the inning without yielding a run.

Alcantara didn't look quite as sharp to start the top of the third inning. Markus Brisker led off the inning with a walk then stole a base and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher, Nick Rickles. With one out, Al- cantara gave up an RBI triple to Kenny Wilson, and served up an RBI single to Carlos Perez. With a man at first and already down 2-0, Alcantara induced a double play to end the inning. He went on to pitch a season-high six innings and only allowed two runs on seven hits. For the first time this season, Alcantara mixed his hard fastball and off-speed pitches effectively.

Drew Tyson and Chaz Mye looked perfect out of the pen and some nice defensive plays by the Bees helped keep them in the game.

But the Bees' bats looked dead at the plate. The offense struck out ten times and only produced two hits. Even worse, the Bees only managed three base runners over the course of nine innings. But the Lugnuts pitching staff boasts a team ERA of 1.73, so the struggles at the plate were expected.

The Bees look to end their current three-game losing streak Friday night at 6:30 p.m. when they host Lansing for game two of the three game series. For tickets, call (319) 754-5705 or visit www.gobees.com for more infor- mation.

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Midwest League Stories from April 19, 2012


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