The Burlington Bees needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.  The Springfield Sliders played spoiler with a three run ninth to defeat Burlington 7-5.

Springfield got on the board first with a two-out RBI single from Jacob Mulcahy to grab the lead. Burlington responded in the bottom of the first with a pair of runs with two outs. Zane Zielinski reached with a single.  He stole third. The throw from catcher Sam Holling went past the third baseman into the outfield allowing Zielinski to score. Chase Honeycutt gave the Bees the lead with an RBI single for his 11th RBI of the year.  That made it 2-1. Burlington added run number three in the second on an RBI single from Zielinski to give the Bees a 3-1 lead.

Springfield found more two out success in the fourth taking the lead right back.  Justice Burke was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in the first run of the inning.  A two-run single from Tate Wargo brought his RBI total up to 21 to give Springfield a 4-3 lead. The Bees answered right back with a sac fly from Zielsinski for his second RBI of the game to tie the game at 4-4.

The game remained tied over the next few innings before Zielinski reached second on a single and a wild pitch.  Joey Fitzgerald lined a single to center to score Zielinski for his first RBI since July 9th to give the Bees a 5-4 lead.

Burlington only needed three outs to secure the win, but a costly error prevented that from happening. Reliever Jack Gray hit Burke with a pitch to put the tying run on first. Wargo hit a comebacker right at Gray who fielded it and threw it to second, but miscommunication between the Bees shortstop and second baseman allow the throw to go into center field and everyone was safe with no outs. Next man up Nick Terrell made the Bees pay with a two-run double to left to give Springfield a 6-5 lead. Chase Kessinger added an insurance run with another double to make the score 7-5.

Burlington had a chance to tie the game in the 9th with runners on second and third with one out, but a strikeout from Rome Wallace and a groundout from Justin Baehler ended the Bees playoff hopes.

Burlington’s leading hitter Zane Zielinski had a great day at the plate going 3-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. The Bees will play their final road matchup of the season on Tuesday at Clinton.