Royals on the Farm 4/15

AAA -- Omaha: O-Royals 3, Albuquerque 1

LF Butler 2-3, BB, 2B (3), 3 RBI (10), K -- .317
SS Berroa 1-3, S, 2 K, RS -- .435, still nary a walk
DH Costa 1-3, 2B, S, 2 RS -- .192
CF Gathright 0-2, HBP, BB, SB (3) -- .231
RF Maier 1-3, BB -- .262
1B Huber 0-3 -- .188
2B Cortez 0-3, 2 K -- .333

Bannister 7 IP, ER, 4 H, 6 K, HRA -- ND, 1.93 ERA, second good start in a row
Musser 2 IP, 3 K -- W, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, Wellemeyer replacement anyone? He's a lefty, tho.

Brian Bannister held the Isotopes in check and Billy Butler did the work on offense to get Omaha its fourth win. Shane Costa hit a 2-out double in the 1st and Butler followed with an RBI double of his own to give Omaha a 1-0 lead. Bannister had a 1-hitter through 5 IP before getting out of a jam in the 6th. He gave up a leadoff homer in the 7th to Isotopes 3B Scott Seabol to tie the game as Omaha stranded 4 baserunners from the 2nd through the 7th. Isotopes RP Lee Gardner came in for the 8th and made a throwing error on a Costa sac bunt to put two runners in scoring position with none out. Butler came through with a 2-run single to make it 3-1 and Neal Musser pitched a perfect 2 innings for the win. The O-Royals were 4-7 following the win. The Isotopes had only 4 hits with Seabol going 1-4 with his 2nd HR and 7th RBI to move to .216. Gardner took the loss to drop to 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA. Former Royal Chris George had a middling start for Albuquerque to make his ERA 2.93.

Omaha and Albuquerque have already finished the series finale today and Omaha won its third straight. Zach Day got the start for Omaha vs. Jeff Fulchino, but Matt Wright picked up the W. More on that tomorrow.

AA -- Wichita: San Antonio 5, Wranglers 2

3B Lewis 3-4, RBI (3) -- .250
LF Lubanski 1-4, 2B (2), RBI (6), 2 E (2) -- .243
DH Brazell 1-4, K -- .344
RF Padilla 1-4, 2B (3), K, RS -- .480
1B Stodolka 1-4 -- .226
SS Brewer 1-4, SB (1), E (3) -- .345

Hughes 4 IP, 3 R (1 ER), 4 H, BB, 3 K -- L, 0-1, 4.50 ERA
Cedeno 2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, BB, 2 K, HRA -- 3.68 ERA, on the bright side, only 1 BB
Atencio 2 IP, H, 4 K -- 0.00 ERA

San Antonio answered Wichita's rallies as the Missions dropped the Wranglers to their third straight L Sunday. Wichita got off to a rough start as Dusty Hughes gave up a leadoff single in the 1st and an error by Chris Lubanski on the next hit by 2B Sean Kazmar allowed the runner to score from first. The Wranglers tied it in the 4th as Jorge Padilla hit a 2-out double and Mike Stodolka and Richie Lewis followed with singles to bring him home and make it 1-1. The Missions came back with 2 runs with 2 out in the 4th as a Jace Brewer error helped one run score to make it 3-1 SA. Lubanski hit an RBI double in the 5th to close the gap to 3-2 but the Missions once again scored 2 in the inning off RP Juan Cedeno on a 2-run homer by 1B Michael Johnson. The Wranglers were unable to rally back. Wichita is 5-5 but still a game up on first. Johnson was 3-4 for the Missions with his 2nd homer and 2 RS with 2 RBI (7) to move to .323, RF Will Venable was 2-5 with a RS to move to .267 and 3B Chase Headley was 0-4 to drop to .300. Starter Josh Geer got the win for SA with 6 IP of 2 ER on 7 hits to move to 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA. RP Neil Jamison picked up his 4th save.

The Wranglers' site was down at post time so not sure of today's starters for game 2 vs. the Missions. Perhaps it's the guys that supposedly were gonna start Sunday. Actually, the Missions' site lists no Wichita starter but has Mike Ekstrom (0-0, 5.40) listed for them.

A-Adv. -- Wilmington: rainout

The Blue Rocks' finale with Salem was rained out Sunday. Today's game is also a casualty of Mother Nature and the game with the Kinston Indians (4-4, A-Adv. Tribe) will be made up in June.

A -- Burlington: Bees 1, Kane County 0 (9/G1)

LF Dickerson 2-3, BB, K, SB (3) -- .333
CF Morel 2-4 -- .238
RF Gonzalez 1-4, RBI, 2 K -- .176
SS McConnell 1-3, S, K -- .182
2B Mertins 0-3, S, K -- .190
3B Maddox 0-2, 2 BB -- .286
C Everett 1-4, 2B -- .200
* The Bees left 10 on base.

Santiago 6 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, BB, 2 K -- ND, 1.64 ERA, nice start
Chambliss 3 IP, BB, 4 K -- W, 2-0, 0.00 ERA, very nice

The Bees took the first game of the double dip Sunday in "extras" in 9 thanks to shutdown pitching from Mario Santiago and Tyler Chambliss. Santiago gave up both of the Cougars' hits in the 3rd but got out of a jam with a double play. The Bees stranded 2 in the 2nd and 3 in the 8th with a runner here and there in-between as Santiago and Chambliss held Kane County in check. C Brady Everett doubled to lead off the 9th for Burlington, PR Jarrod Dyson was sacrificed to third and RF O.D. Gonzalez ended it with a walkoff single to give Burlington the 1-0 win. 2B Alex Valdez was 1-2 with a walk to move to .333 while CF Michael Massaro was 1-4 to move to .136. Starter James Heuser and RP T.J. Franco Jr. held the Bees to 5 hits over 7 IP but RP Scott Moore took the loss to drop to 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA.

Bees 5, Kane County 1 (7/G2)

2B Maddox 2-4, 2B (2), HR, 2 RBI (6), 2 RS -- .320
LF Dickerson 2-3, RS -- .381
1B S. Lucas 2-3, 2 RBI (3), E (1) -- .267
SS Mertins 2-4, K, RS -- .240
DH Turner 1-2, HBP, 3B, K, RS -- .118

Campbell 6 IP, ER, 3 H, 3 K, HRA -- W, 1-0, 0.90 ERA, looking good off surgery
Hartsock IP, K -- 0.00 ERA

Burlington jumped on Cougars SP Joe Piekarz and swept the doubleheader. With 1 out in the 1st, Kurt Mertins singled and Marc Maddox followed wtih a 2-run homer for his 1st of the season and a 2-0 Bees lead. Jase Turner followed with his 1st triple of the season but was stranded. Maddox doubled in the 3rd and scored thanks to a Joe Dickerson single and Cougar error on the play. Starter Matt Campbell, in his second game back from shoulder surgery, set down the first 11 Cougars before giving up a solo homer to 1B Greg Dowling in the 4th. That was it for Kane County as the Bees added 2 runs in the 5th on a 2-out, 2-run single by Scott Lucas to make it 5-1. RP Aaron Hartsock set the Cougs down in order in the 7th to end it. The Bees are 6-2 and a game back of first-place Clinton. Dowling was 1-3 with his 1st homer and 3rd RBI to move to .259. KC had only 3 hits on the game to improve to 5 on the doubleheader. That's ungood. Piekarz took the loss with 3 R (2 ER) over 3 IP to drop to 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA.

The series wraps tonight in Burlington as Bees RH Harold Mozingo (0-1, 3.60) faces off against RH John Herrera (0-0, 0.00).