BEACH BUMS PITCH WAY TO 4-2 WIN

8/23/2011 - TRAVERSE CITY, MI— The Traverse City Beach Bums rode solid pitching to the first win of their six-game homestand as they beat the Rockford RiverHawks in front of 3,323 fans at Wuerfel Park Tuesday night by a score of 4-2.
Tom Zebroski scores ahead of Stephen Shults in a Pete Walters photograph. Shults was 1-for-2 on the night, with a homerun and 2 RBI.

With the solid pitching the Beach Bums got, they needed some offense to go with it. In the fourth, they got it with three runs thanks to an RBI-single from second baseman Tom Zebroski and a two-run home run from third baseman Stephen Shults. The home run was the first for Shults since being acquired in a trade with the Florence Freedom on August 15 and gave Traverse City a 3-0 lead.

The Beach Bums would add on another run in the sixth thanks to an RBI-single from first baseman Jeff Flagg, who broke out of an 0-for-14 slump with his hit to give Traverse City a 4-0 lead. In the seventh, the RiverHawks cut the Beach Bums lead in half with a two-run home run from Rockford right fielder Jeremy Richter to bring the score to 4-2, but the RiverHawks would come no closer as Beach Bums relievers Scott Reid and Scott Mueller combined to retire the last seven batters they faced to finish the ballgame.

Beach Bums starting pitcher Scott Dunn (7-3) earned his seventh win after allowing just two runs in his 6.2 innings of work. Rockford starting pitcher Brett Scarpetta (6-6) is tagged with his sixth loss in 2011 after allowing four run in seven innings. Mueller came in and pitched a perfect ninth inning to record his seventeenth save of the season.

With the win, the Beach Bums record improves to 43-42, while Rockford falls to 34-51 on the season. Flagg led the Beach Bums with two hits in the contest.

The Beach Bums-RiverHawks series continues on “What’s Up Wednesday” at 7:05 p.m. The Beach Bums will celebrate Back to School Night! The first 500 kids 12 years of age and under will receive a sling backpack.

If you can't make it to Wuerfel Park to join the fun in person -- or if you are in attendance bring your radio and catch the Budweiser Pregame Show starting at 6:45 p.m. on Sunny Country 101.9 FM and streaming online through tcbeachbums.com.