Stipp, Reinhardt combine to swat away Bees; Gems stay in tie for first place

BURLINGTON, Iowa — Starter Jake Stipp allowed just two runs in six innings of work, and reliever Philip Reinhardt tossed three innings of scoreless relief as the Quincy Gems defeated the Burlington Bees 9-2 on Friday night in a Prospect League game at Community Field.

The victory keeps the Gems (25-25, 12-11 second half) in a tie with Clinton at the top of the Great River Division standings. The LumberKings (11-10) are .002 ahead in winning percentage. Normal (10-13) is two games out of first, and Burlington (8-12) is 2 1/2 games out. 

The Gems took the lead in the first inning when Jake Skrine walked and Matt Schark hit a two-run home run, his 14th of the season.

Burlington scored twice in the second to tie the game, but Stipp allowed just one more hit over the next four innings. He finished with eight strikeouts, allowing just three hits and two walks. Reinhardt had seven strikeouts in the nine outs he recorded. He allowed four hits.

Skrine put the Gems ahead in the fifth inning with a three-run homer, his sixth of the season. Quincy put the game away with four runs after two were out in the seventh. Joseph Batusich drove in a run with a bases loaded walk. Connor Milton followed with a RBI single, and Jadon Arakaki plated two more runs with another single.

Arakaki had three hits for the Gems, while Schark and Milton each had two.

Schark’s two RBIs put him at 61 for the season. The Prospect League record is 66 RBIs, set in 2012 by Matthew Tellor of Springfield and Giancarlo Brugnoni of Chillicothe.