Miners Take Game Two in Extra Innings
September 6, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release
TRAVERSE CITY, MI - The Traverse City Beach Bums jumped out to an early lead, but the Southern Illinois Miners tied the game with a run in the top of the eighth and then scored the winning run in the tenth as the Miners upended the Beach Bums 5-4 to take a 2-0 lead in the Frontier League Division Series.
Things could not have started out much better for Traverse City as after Southern Illinois was set down in order in the top of the first, the Beach Bums got the offense moving in the bottom of the inning as Ryan Still and Brian Heere singled. Jose Vargas came up and smoked a double over the head of Chad Maddox in leftfield to score Still for a 1-0 TC lead. With runners on second and third and nobody out, Chase Burch hit a sharp ground ball to short to score Heere and make it 2-0. Jeff Flagg followed with a single to left to score Vargas and push the lead to 3-0.
In the fifth, Burch came up and hit a towering homer to left to make it 4-0. Meanwhile on the mound, Jacob Clem was cruising through the first five innings, recording 13 ground ball outs through his first 15 batters retired, surrendering just a pair of singles along the way.
Clem would strike out the first batter in the sixth, but then Southern Illinois saw their bats awaken as Alvaro Ramirez tripled followed by a double by Jake Kaase to score Ramirez and make it 4-1. A Javier Herrera single brought home Kaase, slicing the lead to 4-2. Ken Gregory stood in and singled to move Herrera to third and end the night of Clem. Jason Ganek came up and hit a sac fly to score Herrera, but Scott Dunn was able to come on and strike out Chad Maddox to end the inning with the lead intact.
The Miners would tie the game in the eighth as Herrera and Gregory reached on a hit batsman and a walk and were moved up a base on a sac bunt by Ganek. Cory Harrilchak stood in as a pinch hitter and legged out an infield single to score Herrera to knot the game at 4-4. Traverse City would get out of the inning as on a one-hopper back to the mound, Gregory was tagged out in a rundown by Marcus Nidiffer. On the play, Nidiffer was also able to tag out pinch-runner Will Block who tried to reach third on the rundown.
The game would stay 4-4 into the top of the tenth when Gregory cracked a solo homer to give the Miners the winning run. Steven Grife (1-0) picked up the win while Brandon Cunniff was able to record his second save in as many nights. Matt Miller (0-1) took the loss for the Beach Bums.
Game three comes up on Saturday at Rent One Park in Marion, IL as the Traverse City tries to keep their season going with Brooks Belter (10-3, 3.52) on the mound. He will be opposed by Cody Hall (9-1, 2.63) for Southern Illinois. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. with the pregame show on Sunny Country 101.9 beginning at 7:45 p.m. If a game five is necessary, it will be played at Wuerfel Park on Monday at 7:05 p.m. Stay connected to tcbeachbums.com for updates.
Frontier League Stories from September 6, 2012
- Miners Storm Back to 2-0 Series Lead - Southern Illinois Miners
- Freedom Defeat Grizzlies to Even Divisional Series - Gateway Grizzlies
- Freedom Defeat Grizzlies to Even Divisional Series - Gateway Grizzlies
- Allen Huge as Freedom Even Series, Win First Ever Playoff Game - Florence Y'alls
- Miners Take Game Two in Extra Innings - Traverse City Beach Bums
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