Long, soggy night as Beach Bums edge Wild Things

After sitting through the longest rain delay in Wild Things Park history, Washington and Traverse City played far, far into the night Wednesday; so far, in fact, that they played right into Thursday.
The Wild Things were determined not to play a doubleheader today because it would disrupt the schedule for the “Dingers Only” promotion that features former Indianapolis Colts punter and current Barstool Sports Radio personality Pat McAfee playing for Washington.
Plus, the idea of playing a doubleheader on a getaway night wasn’t appealing, especially with trips to Chicago for games Friday looming for both the Wild Things and Beach Bums.
So Washington and Traverse City waited out a rain delay of two hours and 32 minutes before starting the middle game of their series. The first pitch was thrown at 9:37 p.m. There were fewer than 40 fans left in the ballpark when the game started. It ended, at 12:36 a.m. Thursday. In between, there were plenty of scoring opportunities for each team but very few runs.
Traverse City did a little more with its chances than Washington and pulled out a 3-2 victory.
Isaac Bernard hit a solo home run for the Beach Bums and Steve Lohr broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning by scoring on a fielder’s choice.
Traverse City starting pitcher Jordan Desguin allowed two runs (one earned) over five innings to improve his record to 5-0.
“He’s the best pitcher we’ve seen this year,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn said. “He’s definitely the best starter.”
Washington starter Thomas Dorminy (5-2) yielded six hits and three runs in seven innings but he issued five walks.
“We gave them some runs,” Langbehn said. “Our defense has to get better. We walked the No. 9 hitter twice on eight pitches and we walked five guys total, and two of those came around to score. We made some mistakes and it cost us the game.”
Traverse City took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when John Hauser, the Beach Bums’ No. 9 hitter, walked with the bases loaded. Bernard made it 2-0 an inning later with his fourth home run of the season, and opposite-field shot to left.
Washington tied it at 2-2 by scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Mike Hill’s single scored Roman Collins from third base for the first run and a wild pitch allowed Harris to race home with the tying run.
Traverse City loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth but managed only one run, when Noah McGovern’s fielder’s choice chopper scored Lohr to make it 3-2.
Washington, meanwhile, had plenty of chances to tie or take the lead but couldn’t come up with a clutch hit. The Wild Things left 13 runners on base, including 10 over the final five innings.
First baseman Reydel Medina had three of Washington’s eight hits.
“At least we don’t have to play doubleheader,” Langbehn said, trying to find a silver lining to a dreary and soggy night.