Beach Bums Walk off in Twelfth
June 15, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release
TRAVERSE CITY, MI - Kyle Colligan doubled to lead off the bottom of the 12th inning and later came in to score on a wild pitch as the Traverse City Beach Bums downed the Lake Erie Crushers 5-4 in 12 innings in front of a crowd of 4,156 at Wuerfel Park on a FANtastic Fireworks Friday.
With the game tied at 4-4, Colligan stroked a 2-1 pitch into left-center field. With the outfielders playing back to make sure nothing got over their heads, Colligan turned on the jets and sprinted into second with a leadoff double. Jose Vargas came up next and lined a ball into centerfield moving Colligan to third. Lake Erie lined up to intentionally walk Chase Burch and set up a force at any base. The plan backfired, however, as the first offering on the free pass from Travis Risser sailed over the glove of Crushers catcher Brian Erie allowing Colligan to score for the Beach Bums win.
Early in the game, it looked like Traverse City wouldn't have much of a chance of getting the game to extra innings as Lake Erie stormed out of the gates with three runs in the top of the first, two of them on an Andrew Davis double. Meanwhile on the mound, Eric Gonzalez-Diaz was cruising, not allowing a hit and surrendering just one baserunner through the first five innings.
The Beach Bums finally broke through in the sixth as Sean Gusrang led off the bottom of the inning with a homerun to cut the Crushers lead to 3-1. In the seventh, the Beach Bums kept the runs coming as with one out, Jeff Flagg singled and Marcus Nidiffer reached on an error. Chris Kay then singled to load the bases for Gusrang who lined a single to right to score Flagg and make it 3-2. Kyle Eveland followed with an RBI groundout to plate Nidiffer and tie the game at 3-3.
With the momentum totally in their favor, it looked as if Traverse City would win the game in regulation as back-to-back singles by Vargas and Burch in the eighth put runners on the corners with no outs. On a 1-2 pitch to Flagg, Jonathan Kountis bounced a ball to the backstop allowing Vargas to score and putting TC up 4-3.
Lake Erie wasn't quite done yet as the second batter of the ninth inning, Wally Correa, hit a towering fly ball that sliced towards the line in left. The ball cleared the wall just barely staying fair to knot the score at 4-4.
Sam Brown (1-1) picked up the win with two scoreless innings of relief. Risser (0-1) took the loss. Both starters were effective in the ballgame. After the rough start, Brooks Belter went six innings for the Beach Bums, at one point retiring 11 batters in a row. Gonzalez-Diaz downed the first 11 batters of the game before a fourth inning walk and eventually went 6.1 innings giving up two earned runs.
The rubber game of the series comes up on Saturday as Bennett Whitmore (1-1, 3.72) takes the hill for the Traverse City against Joshua Rickards (1-0, 5.12) for the Crushers. Saturday is Michigan vs Ohio State Night and the Beach Bums want to fill Wuerfel Park with fans wearing gear from U of M, MSU, CMU, FSU, GVSU and any other Michigan collegeyou can think of. Grab your alumni friends and plan on a fun filled Saturday night at Wuerfel Park. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m. For tickets call 943-0100 or visit www.tcbeachbums.com.
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Frontier League Stories from June 15, 2012
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