Royals Fall in Tight Battle with Bluefield

Burlington, NC - The Burlington Royals (0-5) fell to the Bluefield Blue Jays (4-1) by a final score of 7-5 on Saturday night at Burlington Athletic Stadium.
The Royals fell behind early, allowing four runs in the top of the first inning, but Burlington struck back for three runs of its own in the bottom of the first.
After Jeison Guzman reached on an error, Jackson Lueck ripped an RBI double down the right field line in his first at-bat with the B-Royals. Two batters later, Juan Carlos Negret drove in Lueck with an RBI triple. Dalton Griffin then followed with an RBI double of his own to make it a 4-3 game.
In the top of the third inning, Bluefield added to its lead, scoring once on an RBI single to make it 5-3. The Royals got that run back in the fifth inning when Jeison Guzman scored, cutting the deficit to 5-4.
After the Blue Jays scored in the sixth to make it 6-4, Burlington cut the lead to one again, when Montae Bradshaw brought in Dalton Griffin with an RBI groundout in the eighth.
Bluefield added another run in the top of the ninth and held Burlington off the board in the bottom of that inning to take the game 7-5.
With wins in the first two games of the weekend, Bluefield secured a series victory. The third and final game of the series is set for 6:00 p.m. on Sunday night in Burlington.
The Burlington Royals are the Appalachian League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.
Single-game tickets are on sale now. Call 336-222-0223 or visit www.burlingtonroyals.com for more information.
WP - N. Perez (1-0)
LP - M. Van Buren (0-1)
SV - S. Rackoski (2)
Highlights:
J. Lueck - 2-4, RBI, R
F. Fermin - 2-5
D. Griffin - 1-1, RBI, R, 2B, 3 BB
Y. Garcia - 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K