MWL1 Clinton LumberKings

Burlington Squeaks by Clinton in Series Finale

Published on August 20, 2015 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Clinton LumberKings News Release


Burlington, IA - Even with a series opening win, the Clinton LumberKings (12-40, 38-82) still failed to pick up that elusive second half road series win. After Wednesday night's 11-3 loss, Clinton fell 3-2 Thursday evening to the Burlington Bees (19-33, 48-73) at Community Field. Clinton left five men on base over the final three innings and failed to take advantage of Eddie Campbell's (L, 1-2) quality start. Michael Bolaski (W, 9-9) faced the minimum over the first six innings before trouble ended his night in the seventh, but the Burlington bullpen held and secured a series win.

The series finale started off with a bang. As the first man to step up Thursday night, Brock Hebert hit a ball over the head of right fielder Natanael Delgado. The ball took an awkward bounce towards center field, which allowed a chance at an inside the park home run. A perfectly executed cutoff and relay throw from Delgado to Tim Arakawa to Wade Wass got Hebert at the plate. Anything other than a perfect play and Clinton would have had its first inside the park home run of the season.

Burlington got the scoring started in the third inning vs. Campbell. The lefty allowed a one-out single to Ayendy Perez, who reached base 11 times in the series. Perez got to second base on a wild pitch, moved to third on a ground out, and scored on Campbell's second wild pitch of the inning.

The Bees then loaded the bases with no outs vs. Campbell in the fifth. Delgado and Trever Allen started the frame with singles, while Nick Flair reached on a throwing error by Joe DeCarlo on a sacrifice bunt attempt. Perez followed with a two-RBI single to center field, as Burlington led 3-0 after five innings.

A three-run lead was more than enough for Bolaski, who shined over the first six innings, but struggled in the seventh. Hebert led off the inning with a double and scored on Chris Mariscal's RBI single. Bolaski then walked Burt Reynolds and departed for Alex Klonowski. The right-handed reliever struck out Pat Leyland and then walked Joe DeCarlo, which loaded the bases. A wild pitch plated Mariscal and made it a one-run game, but Martin Peguero grounded out with the tying run at third base.

Clinton put together a two-out threat in the ninth inning vs. Jordan Piche (SV, 5). After the righty struck out both Mariscal and Reynolds, he walked Leyland and DeCarlo. After a long battle with Martin Peguero, Piche ended the game with his third strikeout. Clinton recorded just four hits in the loss, three for extra bases, but two of them later ran into outs, Hebert at the plate in the first and Reynolds at third in the second.

Off of the short road trip, the LumberKings will welcome in the Cedar Rapids Kernels to town for a series that will begin Friday night at 6:30 CT. Lukas Schiraldi (4-11, 5.02) is set to start for Clinton, while lefty Randy Rosario (1-4, 4.50) is scheduled to start for the Kernels. The LumberKings broadcast can be heard on WCCI 100.3 FM, WCCIRadio.com, and LumberKings.com.

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Midwest League Stories from August 20, 2015


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