Bums 3 Bolts 1
TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Matt Wickswat threw his second complete game of the year but it did not stop him from losing his seventh straight game as the Windy City ThunderBolts could muster only five hits in a 3-1 loss to the Traverse City Beach Bums at Wuerfel Park Saturday night.
Traverse City scored their first two runs in the first. With two outs, Jose Vargas kept the inning alive with an infield single and Chase Burch walked in front of Carlo Testa, who doubled to score them both.
Wickswat settled in after that, retiring 11 of the next 12 Beach Bums batters.
The ThunderBolts could not score in the second inning, despite putting runners on the corners with only one out, but they broke through in the fifth. With two outs, Chase Tucker and Jayce Ray walked and Mike Torres delivered an RBI single to tighten the Traverse City lead to 2-1.
The Bums quickly responded as Matt Howard blasted his first home run of the year in the bottom of the fifth, making it 3-1.
Windy City’s last scoring chance came in the seventh, when they loaded the bases with two outs, but again could not come up with the big hit.
The Bolts left eight men on base in total.
Wickswat allowed just one more hit after the Howard home run and finished the game with three walks, six strikeouts and four hits allowed.
Jake Sabol (7-4) threw five one-run innings in the victory, Wickswat fell to 2-9 with the loss and Matt Miller pitched two perfect innings for his fifth save.
The ThunderBolts and Beach Bums will wrap up their series on Sunday night with a 4:05 first pitch at Wuerfel Park. Daniel Cropper (6-2, 4.35) will get the start for the ThunderBolts and will be opposed by Jacob Clem (4-4, 4.50). The broadcast can be heard on WXAV 88.3 FM and wxav.com.
Box Score
