By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
Tate Slagle made some noise in his final weekend with the Burlington Bees, and his teammates followed his lead.
Slagle’s three-run home run started a six-run third inning, and the Bees surged to a big lead before holding on for a 13-11 win over the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes in Saturday’s Prospect League at Community Field.
The Bees moved back into first place in the Northwest Division heading into the final week of the regular season. This win, combined with Clinton’s 17-6 loss to Illinois Valley, gave Burlington (29-22 overall, 18-8 second half) a one-game lead over the LumberKings. Burlington has five games remaining, four at home, while Clinton has six games, with three of those on the road.
“All we’re worried about is if we win,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “We can’t control what they do. The plan is to keep winning every game we go out there, and hopefully it works out for us in the end.”
Slagle, who will be a sophomore at Iowa in the upcoming season, is leaving the Bees after Sunday’s game against Quincy. The home run he hit off Springfield starter Cobe Ross (1-5) was his first of the season.
Slagle, a two-way player, is hitting .204 with 10 runs batted in. He made seven pitching starts for the Bees, with a 2.59 earned run average over 31 ⅓ innings, allowing 21 hits while striking out 33.
“I think the biggest thing I’ll take away is just friendships — these guys are amazing,” Slagle said. “But I think baseball-wise, I think I got a lot of confidence in the box, even though I didn’t really show that I had confidence with my stats and everything. But I feel pretty comfortable in the box and on the mound too. I feel really comfortable, and I dialed in the (strike) zone this year and kind of got my velo up a little bit, so that was good.”
The Bees trailed 4-0 heading into the bottom of the third. Dalton Miller walked, then Sean Kang was hit by a pitch. Slagle followed with his home run, the Bees’ first hit of the game, and when Troy Peltz would hit a three-run homer later in the inning, Burlington had the lead.
“We were kind of dead, and then I got us started with that home run, and then Troy followed, and then off we went,” said Slagle, who also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Lane Spieker added a three-run home run in a five-run fifth inning as the Bees expanded the lead 13-4, but Springfield wasn’t done.
The Lucky Horseshoes scored two runs in the seventh, three in the eighth, and then two in the ninth. They had runners on first and third with two outs in the ninth before General Schofield grounded out to end the game.
“Late in the season right now, all that matters is winning,” Oreskovich said.
Mitchell Cox (2-2) was the winning pitcher in relief.
“He probably got a little tired there at the end,” Oreskovich said of Cox, who didn’t allow a hit in 3 ⅓ innings before Griffin Novacek’s single started the Springfield seventh inning. “But he did a great job in the middle innings.”
Photo: Tate Slagle (left) and Bees manager Owen Oreskovich celebrate after Slagle’s three-run home run in Saturday’s game. (Photo by Steve Cirinna)
Published
July 26, 2026
