Burlington rallies in 9th to top Kernels

Before you get too worked up about that tough 5-3 ninth-inning loss Saturday night to Burlington at Memorial Stadium, take a second to celebrate that 13-game win streak the Cedar Rapids Kernels had that ended Friday night.

It doesn't matter who you are, or what league you're playing in, stringing together 13 victories in a row is an achievement. Though maybe not as big a deal for this group of Kernels as you'd think.

The majority of these Men of Corn won 15 games straight last season as members of the Orem Owlz in the Rookie Pioneer League. This year's streak had that same feel to it.

"Very reminiscent of last year," said Kernels outfielder Tyson Auer, who went 4-for-5 Saturday. "This is pretty much the same team. Once we'd get in a groove, we'd just keep rolling.  It felt just like it did last year. We didn't think we'd get beat. I mean, of course it's inevitable. But you had that kind of feeling. It felt good."

Last night didn't feel so good for the Kernels (33-23). David Wood's two-run triple over Auer's head in center provided the winning runs as Burlington rallied for four two-out runs in the ninth inning against closer Mike Kohn (4-1).

Kohn came into Saturday night's game with a 0.94 earned run average, allowing only 13 hits in 28 2/3 innings. He had given up all of three runs this season but more than doubled that against Burlington (23-31).

Just one of those learning experiences for a guy who is in his first full season of pitching.

"Everything has been going so good so far," said Kohn, who gave up four-straight two-out hits. "But Mo (Kernels Manager Bill Mosiello) brought me in to finish this game, and it didn't happen. I just got beat."

Mosiello preferred to look more at the wasted opportunities his team had offensively than Kohn's late troubles. Cedar Rapids left 10 men on base, failing to score twice when it had runners on third with less than two outs.

"We played exactly the opposite (during the win streak) of what we did today," Mosiello said. "I'm still steaming (about) we don't execute, we don't get guys over. We weren't giving up any runs (during the streak), so when we didn't get a bunt down,  the opposition wasn't scoring.

"We had so many chances tonight. We had the bases loaded and didn't get a run in. We had that runner on third with less than two outs in the first and didn't get him in. A couple of guys were asked to bunt, and they didn't get their bunts down. We left so many runs out there, so it turns out to be this kind of situation."

For the record, the Kernels outscored opponents Great Lakes, Fort Wayne, Dayton and Wisconsin by a 79-27 margin during their win streak. They hit only .254 as a team, but when you're giving up only two runs a game, you're going to win a lot.

Cedar Rapids also committed only two errors, both in the same game, compared to 13 for their opponents.

"We pitched great, we played defense," Mosiello said. "We had a few games where we didn't score runs, but we'd win a 1-0 game or something. We didn't great play great baseball, but we pitched great and played great defense."

 Cedar Rapids stayed with Kane County in a tie for first place in the Midwest League's Western Division. Peoria is just two games back of the leaders.

Before Saturday night's game, the Kernels announced that first baseman

Gabe Jacobo has been placed on the seven-day disabled list with a hamstring injury and replaced on the active roster by infielder-outfielder

Chris Fox, a 23-year-old non-drafted free agent from the University of California-Santa Barbara. He hit .346 in 17 games last season for the Arizona Rookie League Angels.