BEACH BUMS TAKE TWINBILL FROM WILD THINGS

7/23/2010 - TRAVERSE CITY, MI – The Traverse City Beach Bums saw a pitchers duel in game one before the offense came alive in game two as the Beach Bums swept a doubleheader from the Washington Wild Things by final scores of 2-0 and 8-4 in front of 4, 389 fans at Wuerfel Park on Friday. C.J. Ziegler is congratulated by his teammates after hitting his second homerun of the night. John L. Russell photograph.

In game one, the Beach Bums got all the runs they would need in the second inning as C. J. Ziegler lined a ball down the leftfield line that curled inside the foul pole for his ninth homer of the season and a 1-0 TC lead. Traverse City would double the lead in the third as Matt Brown doubled home Chris Engell for a 2-0 advantage.

The runs were enough as Jonny Bravo (2-0) combined with David Slovak and Scott Mueller for the shutout. Bravo worked out of bases loaded jams in the first and third to earn the win, while Mueller was perfect in the seventh for his 10th save of the year.

In the nightcap, Washington got on the board first with a homerun off the bat of Eric Stephens in the top of the second. The Beach Bums responded in the bottom of the inning when Paul Cruz singled home Chase Burch and J. T. Hall for a 2-1 TC lead.

After the Wild Things tied the game up in the top of the third, Traverse City took control in the bottom of the inning. Burch doubled home Michael Diaz, who had singled, taking the lead back at 3-2. Hall then rifled a ball that went through the legs of Stephens at first, scoring Burch for a 4-2 advantage. Ziegler came up next and made sure the Beach Bums capitalized on Washington’s defensive miscue, launching his 10th homer of the season to left-centerfield for a 6-2 Beach Bums lead.

With the homer, Ziegler became just the sixth player in team history to record double digit homers in a single season joining Aaron Garza (10 – 2007), Kyle Maunus (10 – 2008), Mike Epping (10 – 2009), Robbie Alcombrack (10 – 2009) and John Alonso (15 – 2009).

The two teams would trade runs in the late innings to create the final score. The win went to Kevin Reese (6-6) who picked up his first July victory, going six innings and striking out a season high nine. Scott Dunn pitched a perfect seventh with two strikeouts. Dunn was electric in the inning, twice hitting 94 on the radar gun.

Offensively, Burch and Ziegler each had three hits in the twinbill. Burch, Ziegler, Michael Diaz and J. T. Hall each scored a pair of runs on the night.

The Beach Bums will play the series finale against Washington on Saturday when it is a Silent Auction Saturday sponsored by the Cherryland Humane Society. Traverse City will be auctioning off signed batting practice jackets with the proceeds benefitting the Cherryland Humane Society. Enrique Lechuga (4-3, 3.98) will get the start for the Beach Bums against Zach Rosenbaum (1-5, 5.54) for the Wild Things. For more information or tickets, call 231-943-0100 or visit tcbeachbums.com.