FRONTIER LEAGUE ALL-STAR SELECTIONS

7/5/2010 - TRAVERSE CITY, MI - Six members of the Traverse City Beach Bums have been voted to the Frontier League East Division All-Star team, the most of any team in the division. The All-Star game will take place on July 14 at Southern Illinois.

Chase Burch and C. J. Ziegler will represent the East as starters while Michael Diaz will be a reserve infielder and J. T. Hall a reserve outfielder. Scott Mueller and Kevin Reese were voted to the pitching staff.

Burch will be the starting DH for the East. The right-handed hitter is batting .319 with six homers and ranks third in the Frontier League and tops the division in RBI with 35. He sits third in the FL in on-base percentage thanks to being tied for the league lead in walks while residing just outside the top 10 in batting average. He also comes in tied for fourth in doubles with 12.

Ziegler will start at first base. The slugger leads the Beach Bums in homeruns with seven while batting .283 with 24 RBI to rank second on the team.

Michael Diaz earned one of the two reserve infield slots by batting .293 with a homerun and 20 RBI. Diaz has had a knack for turning it on in clutch situations with a .327 average with runners in scoring position.

Hall will be a reserve outfielder. The veteran is hitting .300 on the year with four homers, 19 RBI and is tied for fourth in the Frontier League in triples with three. This is Hall’s second All-Star appearance having made the Florida State League All-Star team in 2008.

One of only two returning Beach Bums, Kevin Reese is a member of the pitching staff. Reese is 5-3 on the year with a 3.10 ERA. He leads the FL in complete games with three and will make his league leading 10th start of the season tomorrow. The right-hander is third in the circuit with 61.0 IP on the season.

Scott Mueller is one of three closers selected to the team. The Beach Bums pitcher has been nothing short of dominant this year with a 2-1 record, six saves and a 0.78 ERA while holding opponents to a .130 average against.

The managers of the two teams have the end of the week to make their three selections for the squad. Among players not voted in, Ryan Platt figures to be a strong candidate as a manager’s selection with a 5-1 record while ranking third in the league with a 2.28 ERA and topping the list with 57 strikeouts.

The six Beach Bums All-Stars are two better than Lake Erie, Oakland County and Windy City who all had four. Washington garnered two nods while Kalamazoo had one.

The Beach Bums will host the Southern Illinois Miners for three games July 6-8 at Wuerfel Park. Tuesday night is a battle between two All-Stars for their respective divisions as Kevin Reese goes for Traverse City against West Division All-Star Joe Augustine pitching for Southern Illinois. It is Hawaiian Night at Wuerfel Park where all fans are encouraged to wear Hawaiian print shirts and the Beach Bums will be handing out leis to fans as they enter the ballpark. For more information, call 943-0100 or visit www.tcbeachbums.com.