Home Cooking Ignites Offense in Beach Bums Win

Published on July 22, 2012 under Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release


TRAVERSE CITY, MI - The Traverse City Beach Bums found playing back at Wuerfel Park to their liking as the Beach Bums broke out the bats in a 10-6 win over the Joliet Slammers on a Classic Car Night sponsored by Hagerty Insurance.

With the game tied at 1-1 in the third, Traverse City got the offense untracked as Joliet starter Michal Perconte dug himself a hole by walking Kyle Eveland, Ryan Still and Chase Burch to load the bases. Jeff Flagg came up and drove a ball through the right side of the infield to score Eveland for a 2-1 Beach Bums lead. Perconte then uncorked a wild pitch to score Still while moving Burch to third and Flagg to second. Kyle Colligan took care of the rest as he lined a ball that clipped the leftfield line for a double to score both runners and push the TC lead to 5-1.

The Slammers would score in the top of the sixth as Erik Lis would single home Hector Pellot who doubled two batters previous. Traverse City wasted no time in getting the runs back as with one out in the bottom of the frame, Sean Gusrang walked in front of Marcus Nidiffer who drove a ball off the top of the wall in center to score Gusrang for a 6-2 Beach Bums lead. Three batters later, Still singled home Nidiffer to make it 7-2.

Things got a bit tense in the seventh, though, as Joliet would plate three runs, two of them coming on a Patrick Norris triple that scored Brad Netzel and Matt Mirabal who had both singled, cutting the lead to two runs.

Traverse City would put the game out of reach in the eighth. Gusrang led off the inning reaching on an error. Two batters later, Eveland singled followed by a walk to Brian Heere to load the bases. A new pitcher into the game didn't make a difference as Geoff Brown uncorked a wild pitch to score Gusrang. Still then came through with his second run-scoring hit of the night, a single to center to score Eveland and make it 9-5. Jose Vargas would cap the inning with a sac fly to score Heere and make it 10-5 TC.

The two teams traded runs in the first as a groundout by Lis scored Pellot who had walked and moved to third on an Abel Nieves double for Joliet. Traverse City countered when Vargas smoked his 20th homer of the year to right-centerfield in the bottom of the frame.

Bennett Whitmore (5-2) got the win going six solid innings for the Beach Bums. Perconte (0-3) took the loss for the Slammers.

Game two of the series comes up on Monday at 7:05 p.m. on a Military Monday sponsored by the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard rescue helicopter will be on site at Wuerfel Park and one lucky active duty or retired military serviceman or servicewoman will be picked at random each Monday to have their seats upgraded to sit at the Traverse City Beach Bums Private Table for the duration of the game. Brooks Belter (7-1, 3.09) gets the start for the Beach Bums against Jim Schult (4-4, 4.53) for Joliet.

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Frontier League Stories from July 22, 2012


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