Beach Bums Rally Falls Inches Short

July 1, 2010 - Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release


MARION, IL - The Traverse City Beach Bums rallied for five ninth inning runs, but a diving stop on a line drive by Bobby Spain allowed the Southern Illinois Miners to escape with a 7-6 win.

The game seemed in hand for the Miners into the top of the ninth as they held the six run lead and Brent DeFoor got the first two outs of the inning. No one told the Beach Bums, however, as Brandon Howard singled through the right side followed by a walk to Matt Brown. Paul Cruz, who had come on in the bottom of the eighth defensively, singled through the left side to score Howard to make it 7-2.

Michael Diaz came up and appeared to hit a game ending grounder to first, but DeFoor dropped the feed from first baseman Brad Miller allowing Diaz to reach and Brown to score to cut the lead to four.

Not done there, Traverse City got three straight RBI singles from Chase Burch, J. T. Hall and C. J. Ziegler to whittle the Southern Illinois lead to 7-6. All three hits came with two strikes. With Hall representing the tying run, Bobby Spain worked the count full before lining a ball up the middle for an apparent game-tying hit, but Michael Stalter made a diving stop behind second base and threw to first to beat Spain to the bag for the final out of the game.

The Miners got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the third inning as with two outs, Jereme Milons doubled followed by a Nate Hall single for a 1-0 Southern Illinois lead. Three more runs came in during the fourth and the Miners tacked on a pair more in the fifth on a Brendan Akashian triple for a 6-0 lead.

After Southern Illinois added a run in the seventh, the Beach Bums got on the board in the eighth inning. Matt Brown walked to lead off the inning and promptly stole both second and third. Michael Diaz came up and delivered his second hit of the night, a double down the left field line to score Brown, cutting the lead to 7-1.

Dustin Brader (4-0) earned the win tossing seven innings of one run ball. Kevin Reese (5-3) took the loss for the Beach Bums. Tony Bertucci impressed in his professional debut for TC allowing one run on two hits, walking none and striking out three in three innings of work.

Offensively, Chase Burch had three hits and finished the series 8-for-15. J. T. Hall delivered a ninth inning single to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. Michael Diaz and C. J. Ziegler had two hits each for Traverse City.

The Beach Bums now return home for their only series at Wuerfel Park against the Normal CornBelters. Friday night will see Michael Moore (4-1, 2.77) start for the Beach Bums against Tyler Lavigne (6-2, 1.78) for Normal. TC holds their annual Welcome Home Night on Saturday July 3 where the Beach Bums will honor all veterans. Pregame festivities beforehand include a flyover by the Air Force A-10 Warthogs and there will be a fireworks bonanza after the game.



Frontier League Stories from July 1, 2010


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