TRAVERSE CITY, MI— The Traverse City Beach Bums won a rain-shortened game and swept a three-game series from the Washington Wild Things Tuesday night at Wuerfel Park by the score of 2-1 in just five innings.
Traverse City opened the scoring in the first inning when third baseman Jose Vargas lined an RBI-single to left field to give the Beach Bums a 1-0 lead. The single marked the second consecutive night that Vargas delivered a run-scoring hit in the opening frame. Vargas has base hits in 11 of his last 25 at-bats, compiling a .440 batting average during that span. The Beach Bums added another run in the third inning when first baseman Chase Burch lined a single into left-center field, scoring center fielder Zack Pace to give Traverse City a 2-0 lead.
The hit from Burch would end up being the difference in the ballgame. Beach Bums starting pitcher Nolan Shaffer allowed a run in the fifth inning on an RBI-single from Washington third baseman Kevyn Feiner, scoring catcher Blake Ochoa, who had reached base with a double to open the inning and made the score 2-1. After the Feiner single, Wild Things shortstop Brian Bistagne grounded into a double play to complete the inning. The play also fulfilled a Frontier League requirement of 4.5 innings a ballgame needs to be considered official.
With the Beach Bums at bat in the bottom of the inning just minutes later, a heavy thunderstorm took over Wuerfel Park, forcing the teams off the playing field. It was just over 30 minutes later that the game was officially ended by Frontier League umpires Bill Parker and Perry Costello, with the Beach Bums earning the victory.
Shaffer (3-0) picked up his third win for Traverse City by pitching all five innings on the mound allowing a single run. Washington starter Casey Barnes (1-2) allowed two runs in suffering his second loss in 2011. The Beach Bums improve to 16-14 with the win, while Washington falls to 11-18 with the loss. Traverse City has now won eight of their last nine games.
