The Burlington Bees fought hard to get back in the game, but the hot offense of the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp was too much in the Bees 12-6 loss.

Andrew Long retired the first six batters before Illinois Valley recorded five straight hits to begin the third.  Justin Rios had an RBI single, then a two-run single from Will Worthington to made the score 3-0.  Logan Delgado capped the inning off with another RBI single to give the Pistol Shrimp a commanding lead early on.

The Bees offense didn’t stay quiet long thanks to Jackson Jones, who hit his Prospect League leading 17th home run of the season, a two-run shot to cut the lead in half for Illinois Valley.

Illinois Valley responded with the help of a defensive mistake when Zane Zielinski threw a double play opportunity into right field allowing both runners to reach safely. After the visitors scored a run on a wild pitch, Colton Coca made the Bees pay with an RBI double to make the score 6-2. Damen Castillo delivered his second hit of the game later on in the inning to score two more runs and give Illinois Valley an 8-2 lead.

The Bees didn’t go quietly though, and managed to get back within three over the next few innings.  Zane Zielinski delivered his 21st RBI of the season on a single in the sixth to make the score 8-3.  In the 7th, Rome Wallace hit a rope down the right field line that he turned into a triple to score Justin Baehler.  Lincoln Riley would drive in Wallace on a sac fly to make the score 8-5.

It felt like the Bees were back in the game, but another error in the 8th proved to be the dagger. The Pistol Shrimp got runners on first and second, and Colton Coca hit a hard grounder to Chase Honeycutt at third, which bounced out of his glove to load the bases. Logan Delgado would deliver the dagger with a two run single to put Illinois Valley back ahead 10-5.

The Pistol Shrimp added one more in the 8th on a wild pitch and scored run number 12 on an RBI single form Andy Nelson in the 9th. Burlington managed one more run in the 8th on an RBI single from Sam Monroe and ended up failing to score with the bases loaded and no outs that same inning.

Andrew Long suffered the loss for the Bees, going five innings, allowing a season high 8 total runs (5 earned), season high 12 hits, a walk, and struck out three. The Bees did handle Ryan Eirmann better than most teams have this season, but he still earned his Prospect League leading eighth win of the season. He went six innings, allowed three runs, three hits, four walks, and struck out five. Eirmann became the sixth player in Prospect League history to record eight wins in a season and needs one more to break the single season record.

Zane Zielinski had another big day at the plate for Burlington, going 3-5 with an RBI. Zielinski has record three straight multi-hit games and has four RBIs in this stretch. Jackson Jones recorded his first home run since July 13th and now needs three more to tie the Prospect League single season record. The Bees will play the final matchup vs Illinois Valley tomorrow on the road.