Monsters Drop 7-2 Decision To Bees

July 30, 2026

BURLINGTON, VT — BURLINGTON, VT — The New Britain Bees scored three unearned runs in the top of the sixth and added four more runs in the eighth to snap Vermont’s 12-game home winning streak with a 7-2 Futures League victory over the Lake Monsters Thursday night on Delta Dental Diamond at Centennial Field.

Vermont starter Chase Burrows (Babson) retired 14 of the first 16 Bees he faced, allowing just a one-out single in first and leadoff double in fourth. After a fielding error to open the top of the sixth, Burrows gave up a single, RBI groundout and an RBI double for the three unearned runs.

The Bees added an RBI double and two-run double in the four-run eighth for a 7-1 advantage. Vermont had scored the first run of the game in the third on a Brad Johnston (Swartamore) one-out double and Elias Huber (Arizona Western) two-out RBI double. Lake Monsters got a run back in the eighth on a two-out James Henshon (Tufts) bases loaded walk before the inning ended on a popout to second.

The defeat was Vermont’s first loss at Centennial since June 26th (6-4 to Norwich) before starting the 12-game home winning streak on July 1st. Vermont (36-15, .706) are now 4.5 games ahead of New Britain (31-19, .620) for first-place in the FCBL standings with seven games remaining.

MONSTER STARS
* Burrows 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO
* Johnston 2-for-4, R, 2B
* Max Williams (Tufts) 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO

MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
* The 7 IP for Burrows mark longest outing for Vermont pitcher since July 31, 2025 (Jack Kelleher)
* Burrows threw 46 of his 63 pitches for strikes (most pitches in an inning was 13 in 4th)
* Lake Monsters outhit Bees 8-7, just 3rd loss when outhitting their opponent (29-3)
* Vermont 14-14 when opponent scores 5+ runs (22-1 when opp score under 5)
* Vermont now 21-5 overall at Centennial with 3 of the 5 losses to New Britain (May 30-31)
* Zach Geertsma (Mississippi State) had infield single in 6th to extend hit streak to 12 straight (14×40)
* Jake Lopez (UIndianapolis) 1-for-4, BB to extend on-base streak (H/BB) to 12 straight games
* 8th crowd of 3,000+ this season (3,091 Thursday), now averaging league-best 2,705 per game

UPCOMING
Next Game: Saturday at Nashua, 6:00pm (FCBLnetwork.com)
Next Home Game: Sunday vs. Lowell, 5:05pm (CHAMP’S Birthday)

Vermont Lake Monsters