MWL1 Burlington Bees

Dragons Breathe Fire and Beat Bees

Published on May 22, 2004 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Burlington Bees News Release


Burlington, IA - A bench-clearing incident in the fourth inning put a black mark on Saturday night's action as the Dayton Dragons (17-25) beat the Burlington Bees (14-28) 6-3 at Community Field tonight. The Dragons now lead the series two games to one.

The Dragons got on the board with three runs in the top of the first inning against Bees' starter Ambiorix Burgos (0-5). Ryan Fry drove in a run with a single and Kyle Smith finished it off with a two-run double. Burgos has allowed seven first-inning runs in his last two starts. The Bees came back to tie the game with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Mike Gaffney was hit by a pitch, Brian McFall smacked a sacrifice fly to center, and Chris Lubanski delivered a two-out single to center to even the score.

In the top of the fourth, Ben Himes led off with a singled, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a single by Jarrod Schmidt. Evan Conley followed with a line drive down the right field line that resulted in Schmidt trying to score and a play at the plate. The ball and runner arrived at the same time and there was a tremendous collision between Schmidt and Bees' catcher Luis Gonzalez. Gonzalez dropped the ball and stayed down for several minutes after hitting the back of his head against the ground. He would recover and stay in the game. Burgos then hit Miguel Perez with the next pitch, the two exchanged words, and both benches were warned. Luis Bolivar then hit a chopper to third and Gaffney brought the ball home for a play at the plate. Conley was out by plenty and the Dragons dugout got upset on what they perceived as a hard tag by Gonzalez. Burgos ended the inning with a strikeout of Will Hudson and pumped his fist as he left the mound. As the teams changed sides, Conley got up in the face of Burgos on his way to third base and the benches emptied as they jawed at one another. No punches were thrown and there were no ejections.

The only offense the rest of the way was a solo home run by Ben Himes off of Bees reliever Steve Bray in the eighth. Bray matched a season and career high with six strikeouts in 3.2 innings. Dusty Dossett finished the final inning and a third and struck out three. Burgos struck out eight in four innings, giving the Bees a season-high 17 K's in the game. Dragons' starter Ranier Feliz allowed three runs in four innings. RH Josh Thigpen (3-3) pitched four shutout innings for the win. Carlos Guevara finished the ninth for his third save.

The Bees and Dragons will wrap up this series tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 at Community Field. RH Greg Atencio (2-4, 4.84) will start for the Bees against LH Tyler Pelland (0-4, 8.20) for the Dragons. Tomorrow is a Louisa Communications Kids Day and Buzz' Birthday party at Community Field. All Little Leaguers and Boy and Girl Scouts in uniform get in free. Anyone who brings a church bulletin to the ticket window gets $2 off admission for each member of their family. Many of Buzz' mascot friends from around the area will be at the ballpark tomorrow and kids can get a piece of Buzz birthday cake during the game and Kitchen's Plus will give away a baseball glove. After the game, kids can run the bases and the whole Bees team will be available for autographs in the dugout. The gates open at 1:00 and the game will be broadcast live on KBUR AM 1490 and KBKB AM 1360 with the pre-game show starting at 1:40.




Midwest League Stories from May 22, 2004


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