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August 12, 2009

Beam shuts down Philly

By CHIP MINEMYER

Facing elimination, Toledo manager Dale Gray handed the ball to Dan Beam.

The right-hander responded with a gem, tossing a complete game Tuesday afternoon at Roxbury Park to beat Philadelphia 3-1 and keep the Toledo Monarchs alive in the AAABA Tournament.

Toledo will next face Columbus, a 10-6 loser to New Brunswick. The Philly Bandits were eliminated.

“Beamer pitched a hell of a game for us,” Gray said. “He’s a battler, that’s for sure.”

Beam allowed a first-inning run and then shut Philadelphia down the rest of the way.

The Bandits managed two hits in the first and just three over the remaining eight innings.

“I was throwing mostly changeups for my out pitch,” Beam said. “And I tried setting them up with some sliders.”

Beam walked one batter, and hit two. He finished with six strikeouts.

“He had us off balance,” said Bandits manager Dave Amaro.

“You’ve got to tip your cap to him. He had good velocity right to the end, and his breaking stuff was working.”

Philly’s Tom Coyle led off the game with a slicing double just out of the reach of Monarchs left fielder Chris Kerekes. After a base hit by Nick Ferdinand, Coyle came home with the game’s first run, a sacrifice fly to center by Rob Amaro.

The Monarchs came back with two in the bottom of the first. Mike Frigo singled and stole second. After Ben Magsig walked, Frigo scored on Cody Grice’s double to the fence in center. Magsig trotted home on a wild pitch.

In the fourth, Toledo’s Ricky Lizcano reached on an error, stole second, went to third on a balk and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kerekes.

The rest was up to Beam and the Monarchs defense, which had no errors in the game.

“Our season has been all about pitching and defense,” Gray said. “We get some timely hits, make some things happen and – boom – score a run here and there.”

Starter Andrew Strenge was the losing pitcher for the Bandits. He allowed all three Toledo runs – just one earned – in five innings. Tommy Stokes pitched the final three frames for Philly.

Beam got tougher as the game went on. He allowed one hit over the final five innings, and struck out a pair in the ninth.

No Philly batter had more than one hit in the game.

Frigo and Jon Ponte each had a pair of singles to pace the Monarchs.

Beam said he had no worries taking the mound with his team facing elimination.

“I usually pitch better in these situations,” Beam said. “I thrive on big games.”

The next big game is today

– another losers’ bracket battle, this time with Columbus.

“The way I look at it, we get to eat supper another night and sleep at the motel another night,” Gray said. “And we’ve got another game. That’s what matters.”

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