Beach Bums Forge Ahead In Playoff Chase
Published on August 29, 2010 under Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release
TRAVERSE CITY, MI - Chase Burch tied a team homerun record and Enrique Lechuga tossed seven shutout innings as the Traverse City Beach Bums pulled a game clear in the East Division playoff race with an 8-1 win over the Oakland County Cruisers.
After Lechuga retired the Cruisers 1-2-3 in the top of the first, the Beach Bums offense went to work as Matt Brown walked to lead off the game. After Michael Diaz sacrificed Brown to second, Chase Burch took subtlety out of the equation as he lined his 17th homer of the season, just inside the foul pole for a 2-0 Beach Bums lead. In the second, Chris Engell led off with a walk and moved to third on a Brown single. Diaz came up and grounded a single through the left side to score Engell for a 3-0 TC advantage.
The game would stay that way until the seventh when Traverse City would dent the scoreboard again on a sac fly from Jason Codiroli to score Burch, who had walked, to go up 4-0.
The Beach Bums would put the game out of reach in the eighth as with a run already in, Burch came up and lifted his second homer of the game and his 18th of the year over the leftfield wall, a three-run shot to send Traverse City up 8-0. For Burch, the long ball tied the all-time team record for homers in just one season of work. His five RBI also retook the league lead away from Charlie Lisk of Gateway. Burch now has driven in 84 runs this season
On the mound, Lechuga (10-3) handled his part of the game; going seven scoreless in picking up his fourth win against Oakland County this season. Working on short rest, he allowed three hits and struck out four. Wayde Kitchens (5-7) allowed three runs in five innings, surrendering five hits and five walks in the loss.
On the game, Brad Miller and Matt Brown each had two hits for TC while Chris Engell scored a pair of runs.
The Beach Bums now have Monday off before taking on the Windy City ThunderBolts for three games in a showdown for first place in the East Division. Tuesday is Back to School Night at Wuerfel Park where the first 500 kids will receive a custom Beach Bums backpack. Michael Moore (8-5, 3.07) will start Tuesday's game for Traverse City against Brent Solich (7-6, 3.11) for Windy City. For more information or tickets, call 943-0100 or log on to www.tcbeachbums.com.
Frontier League Stories from August 29, 2010
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- Ninth Inning Rally Comes up Short - Washington Wild Things
- Grizzlies Sweep Miners with Another Blowout - Southern Illinois Miners
- Grizzlies Hammer Miners Again for 5th Straight Win - Gateway Grizzlies
- Beach Bums Forge Ahead In Playoff Chase - Traverse City Beach Bums
- Cornbelters rally late for 12-4 win - Evansville Otters
- Crushers Capture Kings - Lake Erie Crushers
- Miners Suffer Worst Loss In Franchise History - Southern Illinois Miners
- Washington Scores First But Falls to Windy City - Washington Wild Things
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