TRAVERSE CITY, MI – The Traverse City Beach Bums broke open a close ballgame with a four-run fourth inning, propelling the Beach Bums to a 9-2 win over Florence and a series sweep over the Freedom.

Leading 2-0 heading into the fourth, Chase Burch led off for Traverse City with a walk. Jeff Flagg came up next and doubled off the wall in left, moving Burch to third. Kyle Colligan stepped in and doubled down the leftfield line, scoring both runners for a 4-0 TC lead. The subsequent batter was Sean Gusrang who deposited a Scott Moviel offering over the rightfield wall for his ninth homerun of the season, his third game in a row going deep, to push the advantage to 6-0.

The Beach Bums would extend the lead in the fifth when with Jose Vargas on second with a double, Flagg lined a ball through the right side of the infield to score Vargas and make it 7-0.

Florence would get two runs back in the sixth as John Malloy doubled home Drew Rundle and Jim Jacquot who reached via a fielder’s choice and a hit batsman. Traverse City would answer in the seventh when Ryan Still scored on an error and Colligan drove home Burch, who was on base thanks to a fielder’s choice, capping the scoring.

On the mound Brooks Belter (7-1) was able to make the runs stand up as he tied a career high with seven innings pitched. The right-hander allowed three hits and walked three, striking out four while recording 14 ground ball outs. Moviel (0-1) took the loss for Florence.

Traverse City scored the first runs of the game with single tallies in the first and second on an RBI groundout by Burch and a balk by Moviel to score Colligan respectively.