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MWL1 Burlington Bees

Springer Home Run in 9th Lifts Bees Over Yankees

May 28, 2004 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Burlington Bees News Release


Battle Creek, MI - Kenard Springer's two-out, two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning lifted the Burlington Bees (16-32) to an 8-7 win over the Battle Creek Yankees (21-26) in the series opener at C.O. Brown Stadium tonight. The teams combined for six home runs in the game and the win was the third of the year for the Bees when trailing entering the ninth inning.

The Bees got out to an early lead against Yankees' starter Abel Gomez. Jeff Barry walked to open the third base, stole second, and with two outs scored on single by Mitch Maier to give the Bees a 1-0 lead. The Bees added four more in the fourth thanks in part to an error by Hector Made at short that allowed Adam Donachie to reach with one out. Kila Kaaihue and Brian McFall followed with singles to bring in Donachie with the Bees second run. After Barry struck out, Chris Lubanski blasted a three-run homer to right and the Bees led 5-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Bees' starter Greg Atencio walked Eric Duncan to start the inning and then gave up a two-run homer to Matt Carson to get the Yankees on the board. Maier led off the fifth with a double and after a strikeout and a walk to Brandon Powell, a double steal moved the runners to second and third. Donachie followed with a base hit to drive in Maier that gave the Bees a 6-2 lead and chased Gomez from the game. In the bottom of the fifth, Omir Santos and Willie Vasquez hit back-to-back home runs to cut the lead to 6-4. After a groundout, Made doubled and scored on a single by Duncan to make it 6-5. After another groundout moved Duncan to second, John Urick singled to right to drive him in and tie the game at six. After a walk to Enrique Cruz, Atencio came out of the ballgame and Steve Bray finished the inning by striking out Estee Harris.

The bullpens held the score at six until the bottom of the eighth inning when Cruz led off with a long home run to left, giving the Yankees a 7-6 lead. With the lead, the Yankees turned to closer Paul Thorp who was 10-for-10 in save opportunities and hadn't allowed a run in 20 innings for the ninth. Lubanski fouled out and Angel Sanchez was retired trying to bunt for a hit. Thorp had an 0-2 count on Maier, but he battled back to 2-2 before dumping a single into left for his season-high fourth hit of the game. After a strike to Springer, the Yankees pitched out, but Maier stole second anyway for his season-high third stolen base of the game. He ranks second in the league with 18 steals. Springer launched the next pitch over the wall in left to give the Bees the 8-7 lead and put the first blemish on Thorp's record this year.

Bray (1-2) came back out for the ninth and retired the Yankees in order and ended the game with a strikeout of Duncan. Thorp (0-1) suffered the loss. Maier has now reached base safely in 18 straight road games. Lubanski extended his hitting streak to eight games. Sanchez had his hitting streak snapped at 13. The Bees have won four of their last five games at C.O. Brown Stadium and are 6-2 against the Yankees.

The teams will play game two of this series tomorrow night at 5:00 Central time. LH John Gragg (2-2, 2.06) will start for the Bees against RH Elvys Quezada (1-3, 2.92) for the Yankees. The game will be broadcast live on KBUR AM 1490 and KBKB AM 1360 with the pre-game show starting at 4:40.

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