Clinton Lumber Kings

BURLINGTON, Iowa — The Clinton LumberKings (21-10, 3-3) struck early with a three-run homer from Colin Coonradt, but four costly errors and a relentless Burlington offense doomed them in a 15-7 loss to the Bees on Wednesday night at Community Field.

Clinton jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st when Coonradt drilled his first home run of the season over the left-field wall, scoring Brett White and Brayden Mulkey. But Burlington (15-16, 3-2) answered quickly in the bottom half.

Mason Schwalbach drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly, and Kooper Schulte tied it with a sac fly of his own. One batter later, Caleb Seibers turned on a pitch and launched a three-run home run to left, putting the Bees up 5-3 after just one inning.

Clinton trimmed the deficit to 5-4 in the 3rd. White doubled with one out and scored when James Hackett beat out an infield single and advanced to third on a throwing error by the shortstop.

In the bottom of the 4th, Burlington tacked on three more runs. Dylan Shepherd singled home a run and moved to second on an error at first base. Schmitke brought in another with a groundout, and Shepherd later scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-4.

Two more runs came across for the Bees in the 6th when Clinton's left fielder misplayed a ball off the bat of Corey Boyette, allowing Owen Nowak to score. Schwalbach followed with an RBI single to center, extending the lead to 10-4.

Hackett brought Clinton back within four in the 7th, launching a two-run homer to right — his first of the summer — but the rally stalled there. Burlington responded with two more in the home half. Shepherd reached on a two-error play at third base, scoring Cole Yearsley, and Schmitke ripped a two-out RBI double to make it 12-6.

Cougar Cooke connected for Clinton's third home run of the game in the 8th, a solo shot to right, but Burlington poured on three more runs in the bottom half to put it out of reach. Schulte drove in his second run of the night with an RBI single, Shepherd walked with the bases loaded, and Schmitke added a sacrifice fly to finish with three RBIs.

Jackson Rodgers (3-0) earned the win for Burlington, working five innings and allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out seven. The Bees bullpen combined for four innings of three-run ball with eight strikeouts.

Nick Baffa (0-1) was hit with the loss for Clinton, surrendering five runs in just two-thirds of an inning. Only 10 of Burlington's 15 runs were earned, as Clinton committed four defensive errors and allowed seven unearned runs.

Hackett finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a homer, while Coonradt also drove in three and White scored three times for Clinton. The LumberKings out-hit Burlington 12-9 but struck out 14 times and left eight on base.

The LumberKings return to NelsonCorp Field for the 4th of July. They will take on the Burlington Bees for a six-game homestand in 5 days. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. with plenty of 4th of July pre-game festivities! Fans are encouraged to get to the ballpark early and purchase their tickets online or at the ticket office. For fans who can not make the trip can watch the game live on prospectleaguenetwork.com or listen for free on wcciradio.com or tune in on 100.3 WCCI-FM.