Vargas, Beach Bums Pop CornBelters 8-5
July 3, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, fell to a big night from Traverse City's Jose Vargas and lost to the Beach Bums 8-5 on Tuesday night at Wuerfel Park.
The CornBelters opened the scoring in the fourth inning when Steven Felix hit a two-out double and Pat Trettel was hit by a pitch. Trey Manz walked to load the bases, and Felix scored on a sacrifice fly by Robert Brooks to shallow right field near the line to put the Belters ahead 1-0. The Beach Bums quickly tied the game at 1-1 when Jose Vargas led of the bottom of the fourth with a home run just over the left field wall. The Bums continued to load the bases with one out and went ahead 2-1 on a walk to Matt Howard.
The Belters fought back in the fifth as Chico Gomez doubled and went to third on an Alvaro Ramirez single. Gomez scored on a single by Felix past first base with two outs to tie the game at 2-2.
The Beach Bums again answered right away, as Vargas hit his second home run of the game and his 14th of the season high to the lawn in left field to give the hosts a 3-2 lead.
Vargas struck again for the Beach Bums with two outs in the sixth, as he hit a bases-loaded triple to the wall in right center to give Traverse City a 6-3 advantage. Vargas scored on a single inside third base with two outs to build the Bums' lead to 7-3 after six innings.
Traverse City added a run in the seventh when Kyle Colligan led off with a walk off reliever Brendon Smith, took third on two wild pitches and scored on a ground out to push the Beach Bum lead to 8-2 going to the eighth inning.
The CornBelters scored in the ninth when Andrew Cohn and Chico Gomez led off with doubles to cut the deficit to 8-3. A wild pitch scored Gomez to make it 8-4, followed by three walks to load the bases as a ground out scored Bobby Rinard, but the game ended with the tying run at the plate.
Tyler Lavigne (3-3) took the loss while Reid Kelly (6-1) pitched eight innings for the win.
The CornBelters hit the midpoint of the nine-game road trip before the All-Star activities in Normal with an Independence Day contest against the Beach Bums. Left-hander Jacob Liedka (1-3, 4.46 ERA) makes his sixth start for the Belters against Bums lefty Bennett Whitmore (2-2, 4.40 ERA). Pre-game on WJBC.com begins at 5:50 p.m. Central with a 6:05 first pitch scheduled at Wuerfel Park.
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