By: RJ Larson

The Burlington Bees fell behind to the Alton River Dragons early, then struck for eight of the final nine runs in the game to defeat Alton 8-4.

The River Dragons struck for an early run after Blake Burris drew a leadoff walk, stole a couple bases and scored on a single from Josh Johnson to give Alton a 1-0 lead.  Johnson drove in his second run of the game on a solo home run in the third, and David Harris added another on a solo home run in the 4th to make the score 3-0 Alton.

The Bees put runners on base  in the fourth, and capitalized for their first run on a two out single from Parker Rowland for his fourth RBI of the season. 

Burlington got their big inning of the game in the fifth, starting with back to back walks from Ben Nippolt and Nathan Ebersole. Nippolt scored on a wild pitch, and Zane Zielinski tied the game at 3-3 on a two out single to right.  Jackson Jones delivered the big hit of the game on a two-run home run off the batter’s eye in center to give Burlington their first lead at 5-3.

Burlington added an insurance run in the sixth after Austin Simpson scored on a wild pitch.  The River Dragons got back within two after Boston Merila scored on a wild pitch from second in the seventh. The Bees managed to add a pair of runs in the next half inning after a pair of defensive miscues by Alton.  Jackson Jones hit a high fly ball to center that had three Alton players around it, but no one made the catch.  It led to Jones scoring Zielinski on a double to make the score 7-4. The next batter Kevin Santiago also hit a high fly ball near right center, but once again no one for Alton made the catch and Santiago drove in his 25th RBI to give Burlington a 8-4 lead.

Garrett Langrell pitched the final two innings to secure the win for the Bees, allowing just a walk and getting a strikeout. McLain Harris earned his fourth win of the season, going five innings, allowing three runs, six hits, a walk, and finished with seven strikeouts. Jackson Jones had the big day at the plate going 3-4 with a two run home run, RBI double, and a walk.