Doggy Paddlers take early lead but can’t hang on, lose first game in franchise history

BURLINGTON, Iowa — The Quincy Doggy Paddlers took an early lead in their first game in franchise history but couldn’t hold it.

The Doggy Paddlers scored two runs in the top of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead, but the Burlington Bees scored in each of the next six innings to pull away for a 12-5 victory in both teams’ Prospect League season opener at Community Field.

General Schofield drove in the first run in Doggy Paddlers’ history with an RBI double in the second. Jake Merda followed with a run-scoring single to give the Doggy Paddlers a 2-0 lead.

Matthew Thompsen’s RBI single gave Quincy a 3-1 lead in the top of the third, but that lead did not last long. Burlington’s Kooper Schulte tied the game with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third, and the Bees took the lead for good with a four-run fourth inning and then scored two runs each in the fifth and sixth.

Quincy did not score again until a Krew Bond sacrifice fly that made it an 11-4 game in the seventh.

Schofield went 3 for 4, and Merda went 2 for 4. Jimmy Koza and Wandel Campana each reached base three times for Quincy (0-1). Mendon Unity graduate Cody Shaffer started the game on the mound for Quincy, going 3 ⅔ innings while giving up six hits and five earned runs.

Schulte finished 5 for 5 with five RBIs. Burlington (1-0) outhit the Doggy Paddlers 14-8.