ALTON, Ill. — The Burlington Bees (12-7, 23-21) scored 18 of the final 19 runs as they cruised to their sixth straight victory, defeating the Alton River Dragons (2-14, 4-38), 21-4, on Friday at Lloyd Hopkins Field.
The scoring started in the first inning as Jace Figuereo led off the game with a double. He came around to score on a Christian Graves double. Two batters later, Lane Spieker homered to center field to cap off a three-run top of the first.
Alton would answer with a pair of home runs in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at 3 before Burlington controlled the rest of the game.
In the top of the third, Sean Kang, Lucas Krebs, and Troy Peltz each had run-scoring hits in a seven-run inning. Figuereo and Graves also had RBIs in the frame as the score was 10-3 halfway through the third.
Burlington would add four more runs in the fifth as Graves would crush a three-run homer to left before Spieker scored on an error.
After a three-run first inning for Alton, Riley Fuller was tremendous for the final five innings, striking out 12 batters to help pick up his second win of the season. Those 12 strikeouts are the most by a Bees pitcher in a game this season. Fuller also had a stretch in the game in which he retired 13 consecutive River Dragon batters.
The Bees scored six runs across the sixth and seventh innings to pad onto their lead. Adam Kudronowicz entered for Fuller in the seventh and retired the side in order to end the game early due to the 10-run rule.
Burlington has won a season high six consecutive games.