Alton (IL)  Charlie Hodges and Dylan Mass each matched club records, but the Alton River Dragons failed to hold a late lead and fell 8-6 to the Burlington Bees on Thursday.

The River Dragons led 6-2 entering the eighth, but Burlington tied the game with a grand slam in the eighth.  In the ninth, a two-out, two-run triple put the Bees up for the good 8-6.

This spoiled a spectacular pitching performance from Hodges.  Over six innings he allowed one run while striking out nine to match the team’s single-game record.

At the plate, Mass had two hits, and had four steals to equal the team’s single-game record for stolen bases.

R.J. LaRocco had two hits, including his second home run of the season. Dominic Decker and Erik Broekemeier also had two hits each.

Burlington took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first but the River Dragons tied the score in the bottom of the inning on a Broekemeier RBI single.

Alton jumped ahead 3-1 in the second on LaRocco’s homer and a RBI single from Tyler Martin.

A Victor Heredia RBI double in the fourth expanded the lead to 4-1.

After Burlington cut the lead to 4-2 in the top of the seventh, Alton answered with two runs in their half and seemingly put the game away up 6-2.

Alas, the Bees hit a grand slam to tie the game in the eighth which set up the game winning triple in the ninth.