Bee swarm makes MLB players hit the turf

March 31 (UPI) -- It wasn't the bee's knees, it was even lower than that when a swarm of bees caused players in a preseason Major League Baseball game to lay on the ground during an exhibition game.

The intrusion happened at the Peoria Sports Complex in Arizona, home to the Cactus League Spring Training complex for the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners. In the ninth inning of a game between the Padres and Colorado Rockies, a swarm of bees that had taken up residence on a fence behind home plate came over the infield and players of both teams dropped to the ground in what the television crew likened to a "nuclear bomb drill."

Professional athletes from both teams hit the dirt between pitches to avoid the swarming bees for several seconds before play resumed.

Eventually, the insect interlopers abated and the Rockies won the game, 10-5.