MWL1 Burlington Bees

Bees Weather Another Delay; Win 5th Straight

Published on July 4, 2004 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Burlington Bees News Release


Ft. Wayne, IN - The Burlington Bees (7-3, 29-51) and Ft. Wayne Wizards (6-4, 39-41) waited through a 46 minute rain delay in the second inning before the Bees went on to record a 6-4 victory at Memorial Stadium tonight. The Bees have won a season-high five straight games and three of five against the Wizards this year.

The Bees didn't have a hit through five innings and the Wizards built a 3-0 lead on starter John Gragg on a two-run homer by George Kottaras and a solo shot by Matt Lauderdale. The Bees finally broke through against Wizards' starter David Mead top of the sixth. With one out, Mead hit Chris Lubanski, Walter Sevilla singled and Mitch Maier doubled to right-center to drive in one and put runners on second and third. Henry Perez then took over for Mead in relief and threw a wild pitch to score Sevilla before Maier scored on a sacrifice fly to right off the bat of Kenard Springer to tie the game at three.

The Wizards came back against Gragg in the bottom of the sixth. Brian Burgamy led off with a double and scored two batters later on a single by Fernando Valenzuela, Jr. Gragg handed the ball off to Alexis Encarnacion with runners on the corners and two outs and Encarnacion got Lauderdale to pop out to end the inning.

In the top of the seventh, Perez stayed in the game and Brett Groves led off with a single, stole second, and moved to third when Kottaras threw the ball into center field. Adam Donachie broke a three-game hitless streak with a double to right to drive in Groves and tie the game at four. Donachie scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly to right by Jeff Barry and the Bees had their first lead at 5-4.

The Bees added an insurance run in the top of the eighth against Howie Pence. Maier led off with a single, stole second, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch. It was the first earned run allowed by Pence this season.

Encarnacion (2-2) retired all seven batters he faced and struck out two to get through the eighth inning for the win. Nate Moore made his Bees debut in the bottom of the ninth and gave up a leadoff single to Kottaras, but struck out one while retiring the next three batters for his first Midwest League save. Perez (2-1) suffered the loss for the Wizards.

The Bees and Wizards continue this series tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 at Memorial Stadium. RH Ambiorix Burgos (1-8, 5.78) will start for the Bees against LH Sean Thompson (5-2, 2.81) for the Wizards. The game will be broadcast live on KBUR AM 1490 and KBKB AM 1360 with the pre-game show starting at 1:40.

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Midwest League Stories from July 4, 2004


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