By JAMES COOK
jcook@record-eagle.com
TRAVERSE CITY — Matt Brown got the boost he needed, and in turn he helped spark Traverse City to a 4-1 victory over Kalamazoo on Wednesday at Wuerfel Park.
With his family in town and 12-week-old daughter Lola in the stands for the first time, Brown led off Traverse City's four-run sixth inning with a single, sparking the team to the win.
Brown was parading his baby around the Beach Bums' clubhouse after the victory that moved Traverse City into a tie for the wild card playoff spot with 10 regular-season contests remaining.
Windy City's 3-1 win over Oakland County pulls the Beach Bums into a tie with the Cruisers, three games behind the Thunderbolts in the East Division.
"We've got the whole family up here," Brown said. "They came up for about a week to give me a little boost and see daddy play. I'm happy they got the opportunity to come out and see me play."
Brown is 3-for-6 two games into the Kalamazoo series with three walks, three steals and two runs scored.
"We're in the hunt," Brown said. "We need to go out and do the little things right and hopefully the ball falls in the right spot.
"We're trying to keep it a little fun out there. I'm trying to get into scoring position for my teammates and they've done a wonderful job putting the ball in play, moving me over and getting RBIs."
All of the scoring by Traverse City — which was outhit 7-4 — came in the sixth inning.
Brown led off with a single, Mike Diaz was hit by a pitch and J.T. Hall reached on a fielder's choice. Brad Miller's walk loaded the bases and C.J. Ziegler followed with another walk to force in a run.
Andrew Franco singled into the gap with the bases loaded to bring in two runs and Ziegler came in on a wild pitch to finish off the four-run inning.
"The key play was the hit by pitch on Diaz," Beach Bums manager Gregg Langbehn said. "That just changes the whole complexion of the inning and things fell into place for us. C.J. had a great at-bat and drew the bases-loaded walk and Franco comes up with a two-out single and we score a run on a wild pitch. Four runs in this park with the wind blowing in goes a long ways."
Enrique Lechuga picked up his team-leading ninth victory, rebounding from a tough first frame to go seven strong innings. He gave up six hits, one run and waled two, lowering his ERA to 3.21.
"Enrique continues to throw well," Langbehn said. "The biggest difference for him is his ability to get his secondary pitches over — his breaking stuff — and keep hitters off his fastball. It took him awhile to get it going, but now he's got the ability to throw it at any time and it really helps him out."
The Kings went up 1-0 in the first inning. Lechuga breezed through the first two batters before three consecutive singles, culminating in Lee Rubin's RBI hit for Kalamazoo's only score. The Kings would only get two runners past first the rest of the game.
Scott Dunn picked up his sixth save of the season with two near-perfect innings. He gave up one hit and struck out three.
With a 7-4 mark and one game against the Kings remaining, the Beach Bums clinched a winning season record against Kalamazoo for the first time since 2006.
"We just have to worry about ourselves," Langbehn said. "If we win, we gain a game on somebody. It just took us a little while to get going. Their guy was doing a nice job of keeping the ball down and his change-up was keeping us off balance."
