Beach Bums Edge Wild Things

July 24, 2009 - Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release


WASHINGTON, Pa. - The Traverse City Beach Bums overcame a 5-1 deficit to better the Washington Wild Things 9-7 on the road Friday night.

The first two batters of the contest were able to put Washington ahead in the first inning. Michael Parker led off the contest by doubling off the wall in left. Phil Laurent followed with a sharp single to right to score Parker and give the Wild Things an early 1-0 lead. Grant Psomas led off the second inning with a homer down the leftfield line, his league leading 18th of the season, to extend the advantage to 2-0.

The Beach Bums cut into the lead in the third inning by scoring a run. Andrew Franco led off with an infield single and Robby Alcombrack followed by doubling in his first at bat since July 9. He was activated from injured reserve before the game. Brad Miller plated Franco with a single into left. Andrew Stafford flew out to right and Alcombrack attempted to tag and score the tying run but was cut down at the plate by Matt Sutton.

Two homeruns by the Wild Things distanced the lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the third. Ernie Banks hit a two-out solo homer to center and Jacob Dempsey followed by coaxing a four-pitch walk. Grant Psomas connected on his second homer of the game off of Traverse City starter Kevin Reese, a two-run blast to left-center to cap the scoring in the inning. Mike Epping hit a solo homer to right in the fourth to get the Beach Bums within 5-2.

Six runs in the top of the seventh inning against three different Washington pitchers put the Beach Bums in front for the first time in the series. The rally began with Robby Alcombrack connecting on a homer to left, his sixth of the season to match John Alonso for the team lead. Brad Miller doubled to chase Washington starter Jason Neitz and Andrew Stafford followed with a single against new Washington hurler Justin Edwards. John Alonso brought the Beach Bums withing 5-2 on a double, his sixth of the year. With two outs, Mike Victor singled to center to score two and put the Beach Bums in front for the first time in the series. Brian Lapin and Andrew Franco would add RBI singles in the inning as 11 men came to the plate.

Washington put the tying run on in the bottom of the inning to chase Kevin Reese from the game. Reese had retired 12 straight after the second Psomas homer before two runs scored in the seventh. Phil Laurent drove in his second run of the night while another crossed on a wild pitch from reliever B.J. Hagen. Reese threw 6.2 innings to tally his team leading sixth win of the season. He struck out a career high eight. The Beach Bums added an insurance run in the eighth inning and David Hurst worked the final two innings to post his first save.

Traverse City slugged out 18 hits in the contest as every member of the lineup recorded at least one hit. Andrew Stafford, Andrew Franco, and Robby Alcombrack all had three hits in the contest. Brad Miller, Mike Epping, and Brian Lapin added two each.

The series concludes tomorrow night when RHP Brett Bostelman (5-3, 3.13) takes to the hill in the rubber game. He will be opposed by Washington RHP Zach Groh (2-3, 4.95) in a contest that opens at 7:05 pm.



Frontier League Stories from July 24, 2009


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