Beach Bums Upend East Division Leaders
June 30, 2009 - Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The Traverse City Beach Bums upended the East Division leading Kalamazoo Kings 9-6 in the opener of a three-game set on Tuesday night at Wuerfel Park.
Traverse City opened the scoring in the first inning. Corey Whiting singled and Al Barbato was hit by a pitch. Whiting stole third and scored when Barbato stole second. The Beach Bums made it 2-0 in the third when Al Barbato was again hit by a pitch. He went to second on a balk and scored on a two-out single by John Alonso.
Kalamazoo knotted the game with a pair of homers in the fourth off of Beach Bums starter Jason Kiley. Kyle Higgins homered to begin the inning and Brendan Murphy connected on a two-out shot to tie the game. With two outs in the bottom of the inning Scott Billak doubled off the wall in left. He scored when Andrew Stafford also doubled to put the Beach Bums up 3-2. The RBI was the first as a pro for Stafford. Kalamazoo again tied it when Simon Williams led off with a fifth inning double and scored on a single by Amos Ramon.
The Beach Bums took control with a four-run fifth. Al Barbato led off the inning with a homer to right on a 2-0 pitch from Kalamazoo reliever Rich Babb. The homer was his first as a professional. Mike Epping walked and moved to second on a failed pick off. Brian Lapin singled him home with one out. The next batter Robby Alcombrack hit his first home homer and his third homer of the past two games when he drilled the first pitch from Ben Rue over the wall in left-center.
Andrew Stafford led off the sixth by reaching on an error and scored on a groundout by Al Barbato to distance the lead to 8-3. Mike Epping was hit by a pitch with two outs and was running from first when John Alonso doubled down the line in right, scoring easily to stretch the lead to 9-3. Jason Kiley threw 6.2 innings to tally his third win of the season for the Beach Bums. He ran into trouble in the seventh, allowing three runs, but finished the game with a walk and four strikeouts. Jared Locke threw 1.1 scoreless innings and Jeff Williams rolled a 1-2-3 ninth for his 10th save of the season and his second in as many nights.
Kalamazoo (24-13) outhit the Beach Bums 12-10, but every member of the Beach Bums order reached at least once with all but one recording a hit. John Alonso and Brian Lapin had two hits each while Al Barbato, Robby Alcombrack, and Alonso each drove in two runs.
The Beach Bums will continue the series tomorrow night at 7:05pm. RHP David Dinelli (0-0, 0.00) goes for the Beach Bums against RHP Bernard Robert (2-1, 5.56). It is Roger Mason bobblehead night as the first 500 fans through the gates will receive a likeness of the Beach Bums pitching coach. Arrive early, gates open at 5:05.
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