Bees blow out Clinton and even the series

Burlington, IA - After a dramatic ninth inning win in the series opener Tuesday night, things did not go nearly as smoothly Wednesday for the Clinton LumberKings (12-39, 38-81). A visit to Community Field resulted in an 11-3 loss, as the Burlington Bees (18-33, 47-73) tallied 15 hits and drew 13 walks and evened up the season series. Four different Clinton pitchers walked at least one and gave up at least one run, while the Burlington bullpen pitched five scoreless innings.

For the second night in a row, Burt Reynolds put Clinton ahead with a solo home run. His third inning blast Wednesday night made it 1-0 Clinton, though that was Clinton's only lead of the night. Burlington responded in the bottom of the inning, sent nine men to the plate, and knocked Jarrett Brown (L, 2-7) out of the game. Brown gave up a two-RBI single to Zach Houchins and an RBI base hit to Trevor Gretzky before Ronald Dominguez came out of the pen. Brown went 2.2 innings, allowed five hits, four runs, three earned runs, and walked four.

Clinton rallied and cut the deficit to one vs. Burlington starter Jake Jewell (ND) in the fourth. With the bases loaded and no outs, Arby Fields plated a run on a groundout, and Brock Hebert followed with a sacrifice fly. But Clinton left the tying run at second base and did not put the tying man on base the rest of the way.

The Bees sent eight men to the plate in the fifth and built the lead back up to three at 6-3 vs. Dominguez and Hawtin Buchanan. Dominguez walked one and gave up two hits in the inning, while Buchanan surrendered an RBI single to Ayendy Perez and allowed an inherited runner to score. Perez ended the night 2-2 with four walks, as he reached base a game high six times.

Burlington put the game out of reach vs. Buchanan in the seventh, as again, the home team sent nine batters to the plate. Buchanan walked three in the inning, gave up three hits, and made a throwing error, as the Bees tallied another four runs. The righty's night consisted of 1.2 innings pitched, five hits, four runs, three earned runs, and five walks. Thyago Vieira got the final out of the inning, but Burlington led 10-3 after seven innings.

All nine Burlington starters recorded at least one hit, while Taylor Ward and Houchins each had a game high three hits. Joe DeCarlo had his fourth multi-hit game in his last seven starts, while Clinton walked a season high 13 opposing hitters. Clinton pitchers threw 53 more pitches than the Burlington staff despite one fewer inning pitched. Gaither Bumgardner (W, 2-0) pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth inning in route to the win.

Still aiming for that first road series win of the second half, the LumberKings will look to veteran lefty Eddie Campbell (1-1, 3.75) Thursday night. Burlington will counter with Michael Bolaski (8-9, 3.87). First pitch at Community Field is set for 6:30 CT. The LumberKings broadcast can be heard on WCCI 100.3 FM, WCCIRadio.com, and LumberKings.com.