Game Recaps

Big eighth moves Bolts up to second place

A pitchers’ duel very quickly turned into a rout at Standard Bank Stadium Saturday night as the ThunderBolts used a nine-run eighth inning to defeat the Traverse City Beach Bums 10-1. The win moves the Bolts into second place in the Frontier League East.
            The ThunderBolts scored first without a hit in the first inning. Brandon Anderson walked and stole second. He remained at second on a Gilberto Mejia fielder’s choice, the defense failing to record the out. Ryan Basham’s groundout moved Anderson to third and Ryne White’s groundout scored him.
            Dustin Williams was sharp on the mound for Windy City. He gave up his only run in the fourth when the Beach Bums used three singles to bring a run across. Andrew Franco came away with the RBI.
            Both Williams and Ryan Platt were excellent, but Platt departed after six innings. Richard Folmer pitched a perfect seventh but ran into some problems in the eighth. With White at first on a leadoff single, Zach Aakhus tried to lay down a sacrifice bunt. It turned into a hit when catcher Franco couldn’t make the play. Two batters later, JT Restko’s single brought in both runners to give the Bolts a 3-1 lead. They were not content, though, for just that lead. Michael Torres and Nick Kuroczko came up with base hits to score Restko. Gilberto Mejia reached on an error, scoring a run and Ryan Basham hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-1. Then, White, in his second at-bat of the inning, doubled home two runs just ahead of Aakhus’s third home run of the year. That ended the scoring at 10-1.
            Williams finished what he started, throwing 139 pitches in his second complete game of the year. He struck out eight and allowed seven hits in improving to 4-3. Folmer took the loss and dropped to 2-2. The tied the ThunderBolts with Traverse City for second place with the Bolts ahead by percentage points.
            The Bolts and Bums continue their three-game series Sunday night at 6:05 at Standard Bank Stadium. Andrew Werner (7-2) takes the hill for Windy City against Traverse City’s Jonny Bravo (3-0). The game can be heard live on Sportsjuice.com.


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