Chiefs Fall to Bees 7-2 Friday

  The Peoria Chiefs lost the first game of a three-game set with the Burlington Bees on Friday night at Dozer Park 7-2. The Chiefs are 28-39 overall and will face the Bees again on Saturday night at Dozer Park with a 6:30 first pitch.
    The Bees were first to get on the board in the second inning against Chiefs starter Austin Sexton. Brennan Morgan led off with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. With one out John Schuknecht drove Morgan in with a single to center field, giving Burlington a 1-0 lead. 

    In the third Burlington extended their lead. Jack Kruger started the inning with a single to left against Sexton and Keith Grieshaber was hit by a pitch. Sam McDonnell singled to load the bases with nobody out and Jordan Zimmerman lofted a sacrifice fly to center field to score Kruger. Morgan reached on a fielder's choice to third base for the second out, but Grieshaber scored to make it 3-0 Burlington.
    The Bees added a run in the fifth inning against Sexton. Greishaber was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, stole second and third. With one out, Zimmerman singled to center, driving in Grieshaber to give Burlington a 4-0 advantage.
    Burlington piled on in the sixth with Sexton still on the mound. Schuknecht doubled to left and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. Jahmai Jones singled to drive in Schuknecht, and Kruger launched a long home run to left field to give Burlington a 7-0 lead. Sexton left the game after the homer, and Frederis Parra recorded the final two outs of the inning for the Chiefs.
    Peoria fought back in the eighth inning against Bees reliever Ronnie Glenn. With one out, Nick Plummer singled to right, and Jose Martinez singled to left field. Vince Jackson stroked his second base-hit of the day, a single to left, to bring home Plummer and move Martinez to third while making it 7-1. With runners at the corners, Stefan Trosclair rolled into a double play to end the inning.
    The Chiefs tried to rally once more in the ninth against Sam Pastrone for the Bees. Andy Young walked and moved to second on defensive indifference. Ryan McCarvel walked in the next at-bat, but Brian O'Keefe grounded into a double play with Young moving to third base. Young scored when Pastrone uncorked a wild pitch to make it a 7-2 game. Juan Yepez was hit by a pitch and moved to second on another defensive indifference, but Dylan Carlson grounded out to second to end the game.
    Sexton (2-1) went 5 1/3 innings in a loss while allowing seven runs on five hits, walking two, hitting a batter, and striking out two. Parra exited the game after throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings with two hits, a walk, a hit-batsmen, and a strikeout. Brady Bowen went 1 1/3 innings without a hit or a walk with two strikeouts.
Notes… Young extended his on-base streak to 30 games in the ninth inning with a walk in a 3-2 count… Young now owns the longest on-base streak in the MWL of the season… Jackson collected his eighth multi-hit game of the season, all of which are two-hit efforts… Jackson led off for the first time this season… Martinez has a three-game hit streak after he was held hitless in the six previous games… Billings has an 11-game hit streak, but did not play… Young had a streak of 41 games without an error before the one he committed in the first inning… Sexton set a career high with seven runs allowed and tied a career high with three walks… Peoria is 1-1 while wearing specialty jerseys this season… The Chiefs are 1-3 in games following a double-header… Peoria made 16 ground ball outs in the game… The Chiefs and Burlington will play the second game of their three-game series on Saturday with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch… There will be post game fireworks… The Cardinals mascot Fredbird will be making an appearance at the game… It's a Signature Saturday at Dozer Park, where select Chiefs players will be available to sign autographs pre-game on the main concourse… Saturday is Samaritan Ministies Faith & Family Night with a Post-game Concert with Jason Gray… The Chiefs send RHP Juan Perez (0-0, 0.00) to the mound against Bees RHP Erik Manoah Jr. (2-4, 3.91)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:15 p.m. on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android…The broadcast is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network in the Tune-In Radio App.