There’s an old baseball adage that says fans should never leave a game early because anything could still happen before the last out is recorded.

Strong evidence supporting that adage was presented at Burlington’s Community Field on Wednesday, as the Clinton LumberKings overcame a 16-run deficit to beat the Burlington Bees 20-17 in 12 innings.

The first half of the game indicated it would a cakewalk contest for the Bees, who led 17-1 after five innings. They scored nine runs in the bottom of the 5th, capped by Cambric Moye’s grand slam. But Clinton opened the floodgates after that, pounding Burlington’s pitching for six runs in the 6th, five runs in the 8th, and five runs in the 9th (capped by Marcus Littlewood’s grand slam) to complete their comeback and force extra innings.

Clinton LumberKings catcher Marcus Littlewood hit a grand slam to tie the score 17-17 in the 9th inning. (Photo by Craig Wieczorkiewicz/The Midwest League Traveler)

The LumberKings scored three runs in the top of the 12th inning, and the Bees went down quietly in the bottom half. Clinton scored 19 unanswered runs to win the game.

Click here to see the box score.

Links to a couple stories about the game:

16-run comeback creates history for Clinton (by Mike Weisman/Clinton LumberKings)

LumberKings erase 16-run deficit, beat Bees (by Josh Jackson/MiLB.com)

The record for most runs scored in a Midwest League game is 48, set by the Dubuque Packers (36) and the Paris Lakers (12) on August 29, 1956. Some related facts:

Although the league dates back to 1947, 1956 was the year when the Midwest League name became official.

Paris had the best record in the league that year, 73-52. Dubuque had the league’s Most Valuable Player, Grover “Deacon” Jones, who batted .409 with 26 home runs in 100 games.

Paris and Dubuque played each other in the 1956 MWL championship series, which the Lakers won 3 games to 1.

And for you Chicago baseball fans out there: The Paris Lakers were a Cubs affiliate. The Dubuque Packers were a White Sox affiliate.