2012 Beetles Season Recap

Published on August 15, 2012 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Alexandria Beetles News Release


Though their quest to return to the Northwoods League playoffs for the second consecutive season fell just short, 2012 was a record-breaking season for the Alexandria Beetles. Buoyed by one of the most productive offenses in League history, the Beetles won 12 of their final 17 games to finish in second place in the North Division in the second half only 1.5 games outside of the playoff picture.

The first half of the year was trying for the Beetles who struggled with pitching consistency and depth throughout the month of June. Opening night was a ringing success as Alexandria defeated the Thunder Bay Border Cats 12-3 in convincing fashion behind the pitching of Michael Reed (LSU), who went four innings of one-run baseball to begin his second year with the Beetles, and the bat of Will Fulmer (Montevallo), who was 2-3 with four runs scored. Fulmer would go on to amass a 23-game hitting streak and 38-game on-base streak later in the year.

Opening night's joy was short-lived as the Beetles lost eight of their next nine, including seven in a row, to drop to 2-8 through their first ten ballgames. Alexandria's first series victory of the summer came in the second full week of June as the Beetles took two of three on the road in Mankato, the first-half champions of the North Division. After losing the series opener, the pitching of Reed in game two, and Steve Weber (Eastern Michigan), making his season debut in the rubber game, proved the difference. Weber, called into the ballgame with two outs in the first, pitched 5.1 scoreless and allowed only three hits.

Carrying momentum after the series win to open an 11-game mid-June road trip, Alexandria took two of five from the Waterloo Bucks, who started the year 18-7, in Iowa. While in the Hawkeye State, the Beetles travelled an hour east of Waterloo to Dyersville to take in the legendary Field of Dreams on one of the more memorable days of the summer.

Still, Alexandria couldn't quite piece together the play on the field and finished the first half 13-22 and in seventh place. The second half started hardly better than the first half ended as the Beetles lost a pair of 9-8 heartbreakers to the St. Cloud Rox. Indeed, heading into the All-Star Break halfway through the second half, Alexandria sat at just 8-10 after a three-game sweep by the Bucks at Knute Nelson in which the Beetles left the tying run on third and the winning run on second in the ninth inning twice in the series.The early part of the second half also saw the Duluth Huskies defeat Alexandria in a bizarre 20-18 ballgame on July 11th setting the record for the most runs scored in a Northwoods League game. The following day, Ben Moore (Alabama) was the star in a 5-5, three home run and eight RBI night against the same Huskies in a 15-5 Beetle victory.

Alexandria sent three to the Northwoods League All-Star Game in Madison: Jimmy Pickens (Michigan St.), Anthony Bazzani (Eastern Kentucky) and Tanner Vavra (Valparaiso). Each delivered for the North Division with Pickens finishing 1-2, Vavra playing all nine innings at second base and picking up an RBI, and Bazzani touching 98 on the radar gun in a 4-3 loss to the South.

The three-day All-Star Break proved medicinal for the Beetles who returned for the final quarter of the season playing their best baseball of the summer. The 17-game sprint to the finish began with a two-game sweep of the MoonDogs in Mankato as Beetle pitching struck out 23 in the series led by starters Weber and Ali Simpson. Bazzani also completed the most dominant inning of the summer on the hill to close out the first game 6-3 when he struck out the side in the ninth without a single MoonDog making contact on any of the 15 pitches he threw in the inning.

Two wins against the Waterloo Bucks at home followed as the Beetles crept back into the playoff picture and set their season-long winning streak at four. In the first game against Waterloo, Rob Case (St. John's) who enjoyed a breakout summer with seven home runs and eight doubles while batting .315, hit a walk-off shot out to centerfield.

Another series sweep of the Mankato MoonDogs, with Matt Lowenstein (Loyola Marymount) providing the walk-off single in game one, Jon Reed (Memphis) pitching a dominant six innings for the win in game two, and Vavra delivering a walk-off single in game three, was the high-point of the second half as the Beetles threatened Willmar's hold atop the standings but could never quite draw even in the chase for the playoffs.

In the home finale on August 10, Alexandria rallied from an 11-3 deficit with a 12-run seventh inning, including a two-run homer from Vavra and a grand slam from Ryan Padilla (New Mexico), the team's only slam of the season. The Beetles were also victorious in the regular season finale in a well played 5-4 game in Duluth as the bullpen's anchors, Alex Guilford (Montevallo) and Bazzani combined for the final 12 outs with Bazzani picking up his Northwoods-best 17th save of the summer.

Three Beetles were named to the Northwoods' Postseason All-Star Team: Vavra, Bazzani, and Moore, who was named the League's MVP. Moore, whose season certainly enters the discussion for best in Northwoods League history, set new Northwoods standards for RBIs (84) and total bases (165), finished tied for the league lead with 16 homers (tied for fourth in league history), and finished second in the league in runs scored and hits.

Vavra finished as the 2012 Northwoods Batting Champion with a Beetle-record .381 to outduel Duluth's James Ramsay by .0004 points. He now holds the Alexandria record for career runs scored with 93. Bazzani's 17 saves were the most ever in a year for a Beetle and he holds Alexandria's career saves record with 29 in two years.

As an offense, Alexandria led the league with a .301 batting average, fourth in league history, and broke Northwoods records for runs (473 for an average of 6.75 per game), hits, and total bases. The Beetles also slugged .427, tied for fourth in league history and were hit by 85 pitches, second-most in the league and in history.

Though the orange and purple tops have been hung up for the final time in 2012, the expected returns of field manager Drew Saberhagen and several key contributors from this year's competitive and entertaining squad leaves the Beetles already dreaming of 2013.

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Northwoods League Stories from August 15, 2012


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