06/28/2007

Bums' rallies come up short

Errors in ninth prove to be costly

By JAMES COOK

jcook@record-eagle.com

Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Traverse City Beach Bums catcher Matt Rademcher looks to home plate umpire Tony Maners for the call after catching Windy City Thunderbolts' Amos Ramon at the plate.

TRAVERSE CITY — As if first-place Windy City needed any breaks, they got a few on Wednesday.

Isaac Hess earned his league-leading eighth victory of the season in his first start of the year, and two key ninth-inning errors enabled the ThunderBolts to escape with an 8-5 win.

"You can't give a quality team like that extra outs,” Beach Bums manager Jon Cahill said. "In a close game like this, those errors are magnified.”

Hess (8-0) went five innings, his longest stint of the season. Used exclusively as a reliever prior to Wednesday, Hess' previous longest run in a single game was two innings.

He struck out four and gave up just two hits — a Jeff Brown double in the first and a Zach Kalter single in the fifth.

The Bums had just rallied with three runs in the bottom of the eighth to draw within 5-4 before the Bolts came back for three runs in the ninth to seal the deal.

The Bolts added their insurance runs in the top of the ninth, with Mike Coles coming in on a throwing error by pitcher Brett Bostelman on a tailor-made double-play ball that would have gotten the Bums out of the inning. Ryan Graham's RBI single plated Josh Horn to extend the lead to 7-4.

Another tailor-made double-play ball, this one hit by lead-off man Rob Marconi, went under the glove of Koenig at second base to bring in catcher John Lowen, a play that made it 8-4 and ended Bostelman's night after just one out. Jack Nelson came on to get the final two outs, walking one but inducing a weak grounder to escape with the bases loaded.

TC scored once in the ninth off Windy City closer Matt Petty, a run that would have tied up the game if not for the ninth-inning defensive miscues. Jeff Brown singled in Kalter, who reached on a ThunderBolts error and stole second.

The Bums scored three times in the eighth off one of the league's better set-up men, righty Anthony Rebyanski, who came into the game with a 1.00 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 18 innings of work.

Curtis Ledbetter doubled in Brown, followed by a Brad Vericker single. Jeff Vincent lashed a single down the first base line to plate Vericker, and Ledbetter scored when right fielder John McCarthy's throw to the plate was cut off.

TC's Phil Tognetti also came out of the bullpen to make his first start or the season, his first since his senior year at the University of Michigan in 2005.

Tognetti (1-1) gave up three runs on six hits in a season-high five frames. He struck out three and walked five — more free passes than he gave up in 16.1 innings as a reliever.

"He did a great job for us,” Cahill said. "He kept us in the game and kept their hitters off balance.”

Tognetti walked three in the first inning, including a bases-loaded pass to Scott Billak. He managed to get out of the first without further damage by striking out Horn.

The ThunderBolts took a 2-0 lead on a Matt Hawke solo home run over the right-field wall.

Vincent pegged Amos Ramon at the plate to end the third inning, but not before Horn came in to score on Ramon's single to take a 3-0 lead.

Bryan Rembisz made his professional debut for the Beach Bums in the sixth inning, giving up a pair of runs on a Wes Long bases-loaded single up the middle.

Kalter ripped a double down the line and off the glove of Graham to bring in Koenig in the seventh off reliever Mike Causey.

Derek Bell also made his Beach Bums debut, hitting as high as 91 mph on the radar gun. And was able to get out of the seventh inning despite an error, giving up a single and hitting a batter. He set the ThunderBolts down 1-2-3 in the eighth.

The pair, who were signed on Monday and arrived in TC on Tuesday, showed some good signs.

"This is their first time in pro ball, right out of college and they threw well,” Cahill said. "I was impressed.”

Brown extended his hitting streak to five games, as he and Kalter had two hits each

Horn was 3-for-4 with a double, walk and three runs scored for Windy City.

NOTEBOOK: The Bums came into Tuesday's series opener with first-place Windy City having scored 30 runs in its previous three games. ... Ramon left the game in the seventh inning after taking a 90 mph fastball from Bell to the left hand and was replaced by Graham. ... Koenig had his 10-game hitting streak snapped, going 0-for-3 with a walk. ... Tonight's matchup will see TC's Robbie McClellan (3-1, 4.55 ERA) going up against Windy City's Billy Phillips (1-2, 4.11).