(TRAVERSE CITY, MI) – The Traverse City Beach Bums put the ThunderBolts away Wednesday night in a six-run fifth inning, as Windy City fell short in their first attempt to clinch a playoff berth. The Beach Bums went on to an 8-4 victory.
The ThunderBolts took the early lead when Gilberto Mejia scored a first-inning run on a Zach Aakhus RBI groundout. Mejia had reached on a single, stolen second, and advanced to third on a Ryan Basham single.
That was the only scoring into the fifth, when Andrew Franco led off the bottom of the inning with a double. After he was sacrificed to third, Jason Codiroli’s single tied the game. After Matt Brown singled and Michael Diaz was hit by a pitch, Chase Burch’s sacrifice fly put the Beach bums ahead and J.T. Hall’s two-run single made the score 4-1. Brad Miller singled as well before back-to-back Michael Torres throwing errors brought in two more runs to end the inning with a 6-1 Traverse City lead. All six runs were charged to Bolts’ starter Richard Barrett. Only four of them were earned.
After their first-inning run, the ThunderBolts were held scoreless into the eighth. Kevin Reese began that inning by walking Nick Kuroczko. Brandon Anderson’s subsequent triple scored Kuroczko and chased Reese, who was removed for the first time in four starts against Windy City. He had thrown three straight complete games against the Bolts.
Against Scott Dunn, Mejia laid down a bunt that scored Anderson, but Mejia was called out. The ThunderBolt second baseman was ejected arguing the call and Windy City would not score again in the inning.
The ThunderBolts got one more run in the ninth on a Jim Calderone RBI single, but the Bums had already extended their lead with two in the eighth, making the final score 8-4. Barrett took the loss (7-3) while Reese picked up the win (10-9).
Sean Toler (7-1) takes the hill Thursday night as the Bolts try once again to lock up a playoff spot. He will be opposed by Traverse City southpaw Jonny Bravo (5-2). The game will begin at 6:05 CDT and can be heard on Sportsjuice.com.
