TRAVERSE CITY, MI – The Traverse City Beach Bums got six shutout innings from Jacob Clem in his first professional start and two relievers finished off the shutout as the ThunderBolts lost their second straight for the first time this year Saturday night at Wuerfel Park.
Ricky Szeligo got off to a strong start in his pro debut, retiring the first four batters he faced but Jeff Flagg got the scoring started in the second inning on a home run to left-center field.
The third inning caused the most trouble for the ThunderBolts. After Kyle Eveland walked and Brian Heere singled to begin the inning, Jose Vargas and Chase Burch each came up with RBI singles knocking in Eveland and Heere respectively.
The Beach Bums didn’t make much noise the rest of the game. Szeligo pitched only three innings, but the combination of Matt Costello, Andy Mee and Shane Zegarac handcuffed the Traverse City hitters the rest of the way.
The Bolts offense, meanwhile, had some chances, but couldn’t score. Their best scoring opportunity came in the sixth inning when Chad Cregar doubled and Zach Aakhus walked with two outs and Brandon Decker hit a flyball to the wall that was caught by Kyle Colligan.
Windy City also put two men on base with no outs in the ninth, but Scott Mueller got the next three hitters to wrap up the save.
The ThunderBolts left seven men on base in the final five innings.
Clem (1-0) picked up the win and Szeligo (0-1) took the loss. It was Mueller’s third save.
The Bolts will try to avoid a sweep at the hands of Traverse City on Sunday night. Stephen Sauer (0-0, 2.25) will make his third start for the ThunderBolts while Traverse City will send Reid Kelly (2-0, 3.00) to the hill. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 CDT and the game broadcast can be heard on SportsJuice.com.
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