CLINTON, Iowa – The Clinton LumberKings (7-4) swept the Burlington Bees (3-9) on Wednesday night at NelsonCorp Field.
The LumberKings took two crucial wins in the doubleheader against the Burlington Bees. They sit 1.5 games back from the first-place Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp. Ben Swails shined in game one of the doubleheader with flashy plays at the hot corner by preventing a run scoring at home plate on a hard-hit ground ball and going 2-2 with two RBIs at the plate. In game two, Owen Coffman was impressive in his first start of the regular season with six strikeouts.
Game 1:
The LumberKings scored five unanswered runs to start the ball game on an RBI fielder's choice and an RBI ground out from Will Stark to take a 2-0 lead.
Three more runs came across to score in the third with an RBI single by Jalen Martinez and back-to-back hit-by-pitches to Swails and Mason McCurdy with the bases loaded to take a 5-0 lead.
The Bees put their first run on the board on Christian Dunn's RBI double.
Swails hit an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth to answer Dunn and take a 6-1 lead.
The Bees tallied two more runs in the top of the sixth inning on an error and wild pitch to finalize the score at 6-3.
Burlington's starter, Jackson Wohlers, took the loss. He pitched three innings allowing five hits and earned runs, two walks while striking out three LumberKings.
Clinton's starter, Sam George earned his first win in his five innings of work. He allowed seven hits, one earned run, one walk and struck out five Bees. Sam Lavin came in to finish the last two and one-thirds innings fo the ball game and earned his third save. he allowed two hits, no walks or runs and three strikeouts.
Game 2:
The LumberKings scored first on Sam Lavin's RBI single to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second.
Burlington tied the game in the next half-inning on a RBI ground out.
Clinton scored in the third and fourth innings on RJ Ruais RBI on a fielder's choice and Noah Thein's RBI single (3rd inning). Blake Timmons' RBI double, Cougar Cook advancing home on a wild pitch and Bryan Belo's RBI single extended the lead 6-1 in the following inning (4th Inning).
The Bees attempted a comeback by scoring five runs between the fifth and sixth innings. The only run scored in the fifth came via an error. In the sixth, Cooper Donlin hit an RBI single followed by a run scoring on a wild pitch. Boston Halloran hit a two-RBI single on a controversial call at third base. With the throw coming in from left field to third base, a Bees base runner ran into Karson Grout who placed the tag on the runner for the final out of the inning. As the second runner came across to the plate, the runner was called safe and was determined to have scored before Grout placed the tag. That allowed the Bees to tie the game 6-6.
The LumberKings contested the controversial play with Clay Jacob's RBI single in the bottom of the sixth as the final say on the board to claim the victory and sweep the doubleheader.
Burlington's starter, Jacob Zahner, received a no-decision. He threw three and two-thirds innings allowing four hits, six earned runs, four walks and two strikeouts. Joe Evans came in relief and took the loss. He threw two and one-third innings allowing two hits, one earned run, two walks and two strikeouts.
Clinton's starter, Owen Coffman, received a no-decision in his first regular-season start. He there four innings of work allowing one hit, one earned run, three walks and striking out six Bees. Daniel Mosarah pitched the final one and two-thirds innings to earn his first win of the season. Mosarah allowed one hit, one earned run, one walk and struck out one player from Burlington.
The LumberKings begin a two-game series against conference foes the Lafayette Aviators beginning on Thursday. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. Catch all the action on PLTV or 100.3 WCCI-FM
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