Beach Bums Belt Normal
July 4, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release
TRAVERSE CITY, MI - Chase Burch and Jose Vargas each homered and Matt Miller threw 3.2 brilliant innings in relief as the Traverse City Beach Bums downed the Normal CornBelters 6-2 in front of a season high crowd of 5,811 at Wuerfel Park.
For the second consecutive night, Normal got on the board first, this time scoring a run in the top of the third inning on a sac fly by Tyler Wiesemeyer to go up 1-0. Traverse City responded in the fourth, loading up the bases on a walk to Ryan Still, a Vargas single and a Burch walk. Jeff Flagg drove in Still with a single and moved Vargas and Burch up a base each, tying the game at 1-1 and keeping the sacks packed for Kyle Colligan. The Beach Bums' centerfielder drew a bases loaded walk to score Vargas and put TC up 2-1. Marcus Nidiffer came up next and drove in a run with a groundout, plating Burch for a 3-1 lead.
After the CornBelters cut the lead to 3-2 in the sixth on a Steven Felix sacrifice fly to score Andrew Cohn, Burch responded in the bottom of the inning with a solo homer to put Traverse City up 4-2. In the seventh, Kyle Eveland led off for the Beach Bums with a double, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a Brian Heere groundout. Two batters, later Vargas took a ball over the perimeter fence for the second straight night for his league leading 15th homer of the season to create the final margin.
Meanwhile, Traverse City pitchers handled their end of the deal. Bennett Whitmore (3-2) started and picked up the win, allowing two runs on two hits over 5.1 innings. After Whitmore ran into a bit of trouble in the sixth, the Beach Bums called on Miller with runners on the corners for Normal and one out. Miller struck out Pat Trettel before getting Trey Manz to foul out to end the inning.
From there, Miller was nearly untouchable, earning the save with 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, striking out five and only allowing a pair of singles.
It was a fitting end to a day that saw the Beach Bums have a record nine players voted onto the Frontier League All-Star team. Still, Flagg and Heere were selected as starters, while Burch, Vargas and Nidiffer were picked to the East Division squad as reserves. Reid Kelly, Jacob Clem and Scott Mueller were chosen for the pitching staff. By virtue of being in first place a week before the game, Beach Bums' skipper Gregg Langbehn will manage the team and will have the final four selections to the unit, which will be announced on Thursday.
Traverse City wraps up the series against the CornBelters on Thursday with a Two-for-Ticket Thirsty Thursday with a 2-for-1 special on all chairback seats as well as a dollar off fountain drinks and beer. Brooks Belter (5-0, 3.07) will get the ball for Traverse City against Tyler Stovall (1-4, 5.72) for Normal. For tickets or information, call 943-0100 or visit tcbeachbums.com.
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Frontier League Stories from July 4, 2012
- Grizzlies Winning Streak Snapped with Loss to Windy City - Gateway Grizzlies
- Decker's Slam Helps ThunderBolts over Gateway - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Beach Bums Belt Normal - Traverse City Beach Bums
- RiverHawks Win; Lee Signed by Braves - Rockford RiverHawks
- Rascals Drop Series to Miners - River City Rascals
- Miners Take Series at Home - Southern Illinois Miners
- Button's homer lifts RiverHawks in 7-3 win - Rockford RiverHawks
- Braves Sign RiverHawks Ace - Rockford RiverHawks
- No Fireworks for Rippers on 4th of July - London Rippers
- Traverse City Tops CornBelters 6-2 - Normal CornBelters
- July 4 Joliet Slammers Game Notes - Joliet Slammers
- Otters 4th of July Game Postponed by Rain - Evansville Otters
- Six ThunderBolts on Frontier League All-Star Team - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Boomers Rained out on the 4th - Schaumburg Boomers
- Otters Pitcher Dan Blewett Named to 2012 Frontier League All Star Team - Evansville Otters
- RiverHawks Sign Rookie - Rockford RiverHawks
- Four Grizzlies Named to 2012 Frontier League All-Star Team - Gateway Grizzlies
- Four Schaumburg Boomers Earn All-Star Recognition - Schaumburg Boomers
- Three Rascals Named to Frontier League All-Star Team - River City Rascals
- Herrera, Lee and Greener Named 2012 Frontier League All-Stars - Rockford RiverHawks
- Two Slammers Named to the Frontier League West Division All-Star Team - Joliet Slammers
- Pair of Crushers Selected as All-Stars - Lake Erie Crushers
- Six Miners Selected to All-Star Game - Southern Illinois Miners
- Beach Bums Place Frontier League Record Nine All-Stars on East Division Squad - Traverse City Beach Bums
- Frontier League All-Star Teams Announced - FL
- 'Belters Have Three Players on All-Star Team - Normal CornBelters
- Four Rippers Make Frontier League All-Star Team - London Rippers
- RiverHawks Lose Tough One in Washington - Rockford RiverHawks
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