Bums blanked by Florence in opener
July 21, 2008 - Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release
TRAVERSE CITY, MI ¡V The Traverse City Beach Bums dropped the opener of a three-game series with the Florence Freedom by the final score of 6-0 at Wuerfel Park on Monday night.
Florence jumped on Beach Bums starter Jon Haldis in the top of the first inning, scoring three times. Frontier League All-Star Game MVP Angel Molina opened the scoring with an RBI single. Ryan Basham drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and John Welch capped the scoring with an RBI triple.
Two more runs came across for the Freedom in the top of the second. Garth McKinney doubled in a run while Kelly Hunt made it 5-0 with an RBI single off the top of the fence in right. Billy Mottram hit his fifth homer of the season with two outs in the third to chase Haldis from the game.
The Traverse City bullpen was flawless, pitching 6.1 perfect innings in relief of Haldis. Steve Roberts threw the first 5.1 innings and posted five strikeouts. He struck out the side in the seventh and retired all 16 hitters to earn Beach Bums Player of the Game honors. Nick Pepper tossed a perfect ninth with a strikeout.
Brent Lotito threw seven shutout innings for Florence to earn the win in his first professional start. He allowed just four hits to the Beach Bums, who failed to get a runner into scoring position until Patrick Perry doubled to begin the seventh. Perry finished with two of the hits for the Beach Bums while Steve Young, Mike Epping, and Zack Kalter also contributed hits.
The Beach Bums (31-24) will continue the series with Florence tomorrow night in a 7:05 pm game. The first 500 fans through the gates will receive a Beach Bums Baseball Academy logo baseball. LHP Weston Curles (1-1, 7.27) will make his third start for the Beach Bums while Florence counters with RHP Liam Shanahan (2-4, 6.16).
Sandbox Bits âX Zack Kalter reached base three times, recording a hit and a pair of walks âX Mike Epping stole his team leading 24th base of the season in the eighth inning âX The shutout was the second straight for Florence and just the third of the season against the Beach Bums
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