By RJ Larson

Playing from behind hurt the Bees in game one of Thursday’s doubleheader, as they couldn’t string together enough runs to make a comeback and fell 6-3 to Normal. The CornBelters scored in five straight innings to keep Burlington at bay.

Simon Gregersen allowed a pair of RBI singles in the second innings to Casey Finck and Drew Davis, giving Normal the lead 2-0.  Burlington responded in the top of the third with two runs of their own to tie the game. Jackson Jones got his Prospect League leading 13th double of the season to score Reid Halfacre to make the score 2-1.  Jones scored on what looked like a base running mistake by Austin Simpson.  Simpson tried stealing second well after the pitch arrived, but the throw to second got away and allowed Jones to score to tie the game at 2-2.

Normal responded with a two run third. Hank Himrich hit just his second double of the season, to give the Cornbelters a 3-2 lead.  Jonathan Latham followed with an RBI single to put Normal back ahead by two.

Playing as the home team in the rescheduled game, Normal added two more runs over the next two innings on sacrifice flies. The Bees managed one more run on a sacrifice fly of their own from Austin Simpson.

Simon Gregersen suffered the loss in the game, going four innings, allowing five runs, eight hits, three walks, and had five strikeouts. Burlington did see another solid relief outing from KJ Baker, who pitched the final two innings, allowed just a hit and finished with a pair of strikeouts. Lincoln Riley had a solid game in the leadoff spot, going 2-3 with a double, run scored, and a walk.

The second game was a classic pitcher’s duel between Burlington and Normal.  It wasn’t until the sixth inning when the Bees finally struck for the first runs, and go on to win 2-0.

Lincoln Riley began the inning with a deep fly ball to left that dropped in the left field corner, which he turned into a triple. Reid Halfacre broke the scoreless tie on a single to center for his 10th RBI of the season. Burlington loaded the bases and got a RBI fielder’s choice RBI from Mason Land to add an insurance run.

Burlington earned their first shutout win of the year, thanks to a great start from Chas Sagedahl. He pitched a season high five innings, allowed just two hits, a walk, and struck out four. Garrett Langrell earned his fifth win of the season, pitching the final two innings, and getting four strikeouts.