MWL1 Burlington Bees

Bees Win Rubber Match with Dayton, 4-1

Published on July 16, 2012 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Burlington Bees News Release


BURLINGTON, Iowa (7/16/12) - The Burlington Bees (44-48, 13-11) took command in the rubber match with the Dayton Dragons (39-55, 9-15) and won 4-to-1 on Monday night. After suffering their first sweep at home in the previous series, the Bees salvaged the home stand by winning the series with Dayton.

The Bees have now won all four rubber matches they've played in the second half and are 8-7 in those deciding games this season.

A.J Cole gave the Bees another strong effort and forced the Dragons to leave a runner in scoring position in two of the first three innings. He didn't allow a run to score until the fifth inning.

By then the Bees had taken a 1-to-0 lead by capitalizing on a couple mistakes in the bottom of the second. Wade Kirkland led off the Bees' half of the second by earning a walk. The Dragons' pitcher, Radhames Quezada struck out Rashun Dixon with an off-speed pitch for the first out, but his catcher tossed the ball past Quezada. Kirkland wasted little time and ran for second base, which forced Quezada to make an errant throw to second base. Kirkland subsequently took third base and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Crocker. The Bees had a 1-to-0 lead without earning a base hit.

Cole eventually allowed a run in the top of the fifth after he surrendered a leadoff triple and tossed a wild pitch. The score was tied 1-to-1 and the right-hander didn't receive a decision after pitching five innings with four strikeouts. He only al- lowed three hits, one walk, and one earned run. He lowered his ERA to an impressive 2.30 mark.

Douglas Landaeta helped the Bees reclaim the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Landaeta's blast over the left field wall was his team-leading tenth home run of the year. He's the first member of the Bees' roster to reach double digits in the home run category.

The Bees added a run in the bottom of the tenth after Chih-Fang Pan hit a one-out single into right-field and advanced to second base on a pickoff attempt that resulted in a throwing error for the pitcher. Aaron Shipman roped a base hit into right, but Pan stopped at third, which allowed Bees skipper Aaron Nieckula to put on the most exciting play in baseball.

The Bees executed the squeeze to perfection when John Nester dropped a perfect bunt that scored Pan who was flying from third base. The Bees led 4-to-1 after seven innings and eventually won with the same score. The bullpen pitched four scoreless innings and Jonathan Joseph closed the door in the ninth to earn his fifth save in five tries.

On Wednesday morning the Bees head to South Bend to start a three-game series against the Sliver Hawks and a six- game road trip against Eastern division teams. First pitch of game one arrives at 6:05 p.m. CT.

For more information on Bees baseball call (319) 754-5705 or visit www.gobees.com.

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Midwest League Stories from July 16, 2012


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