Beach Bums Brush Away Otters 4-1 and 5-2

Published on August 20, 2014 under Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release


TRAVERSE CITY, MI - The Traverse City Beach Bums got a pair of solid starts from Tanner Tripp and Alex Phillips and backed it up with timely hitting to sweep a doubleheader from the Evansville Otters, 4-1 and 5-2, at Wuerfel Park on Wednesday night.

In the first game, Josh Miller gave the Beach Bums the lead with a sacrifice fly scoring Jovan Rosa in the last of the second, making it 1-0. Evansville loaded the bases with one out in the top of the third, but only got one-run on a broken-bat single from Phillips Wilson before Tripp escaped thanks to a strikeout and a flyout.

Traverse City harnessed the momentum from squeezing out of the jam to post three runs in the last of the third. With two on and none out, Jose Vargas doubled off the third base bag to put TC back on top 2-1. Yazy Arbelo drove home another run with a single before Vargas scored two batters later on a Kevin Taylor sacrifice fly to up the lead to 4-1.

Tripp (2-8) wiggled out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth by coaxing a double play off the bat of Cory Urquhart. The righthander picked up his first win since June 6 by holding the Otters to a run on six hits in five innings. Will Rankin earned his sixth save, escaping a bases-loaded situation in the seventh thanks to a lineout from Jeremy Nowak.

Jose Velez (1-4) went the distance in the loss for the Otters, giving up four runs on six hits and six walks while posting 11 strikeouts in six innings.

Evansville jumped on top in the nightcap thanks to a second-inning homer from Chris Sweeney. Two batters later, Kolin Connor doubled home J.R. Higley to put the Otters ahead 2-0.

Traverse City had the response, though, in the last of third. After a double play left just a runner at third, Vargas brought home the first run with a double off the top of the wall. Rosa followed with a single to left to knot things at two and promptly scored on a Kevin Taylor RBI triple. Sean Gusrang continued the two-out rally with a bloop RBI single to left, making it 4-1 Beach Bums.

An inning later, Miller walked and moved to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a two-out RBI single from Yazy Arbelo to make it 5-1.

After the rough second inning, Phillips (4-7) cruised to his third win his last four starts. The southpaw set a new season-high with seven strikeouts, including punching out the last three batters he faced in the sixth, all looking. Overall, he gave up two runs on seven hits in six innings. Chuck Ghysels nailed down his first save of the year, striking out Shayne Houck, who represented the tying run, to finish off the sweep.

Trevor Walch (5-3) took the loss for the Otters, giving up five runs on eight hits in only four innings.

Traverse City will look to make it a three-game sweep of Evansville on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. Ian MacDougall (6-3, 3.03) will get the ball for the Beach Bums against the Otters' Preston Olson (7-3, 2.82). In addition to Thirsty Thursday specials, one lucky fan will win a Spa and Stay Giveaway to Grand Traverse Resort. Fans can listen to the broadcast starting at 6:45 p.m. on Classic Rock the Bear 98.1/107.1 and classicrockthebear.com.

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Frontier League Stories from August 20, 2014


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