Jun 5, 2015 4 min read

When you’re on the kind of roll Traverse City pitcher Ian MacDougall is, even a hard one-hopper off your hamstring can be turned into a bit of good fortune.

MacDougall, a crafty left-handed pitcher for the Beach Bums, threw 8 1/3 shutout innings Friday night and Traverse City used a fast start to send the Wild Things to another home loss, 7-0, before the largest crowd of the season at Consol Energy Park.

The Wild Things had seven hits and four walks off MacDougall, but they were able to advance only one runner to third base all night. That came in the sixth inning, when MacDougall’s hamstring got in the way of what would have been Washington’s first run of the game.

The Wild Things had runners on first and second with no outs when C.J. Beatty hit a hot smash up the middle that seemed destined to be an RBI single. That’s before MacDougall’s right leg got in the way.

The ball deflected off MacDougall and slowed down just enough for Beach Bums second base Adam Tomasovich to make a diving stop and flip to shortstop Sam Bumpers to get a forceout of David Popkins. Two fly balls followed and MacDougall kept his shutout intact.

“It hit right off my leg,” MacDougall said. “Sometimes you have to be lucky.”

MacDougall came within two outs of the complete game. He exited after throwing 117 pitches and giving up one-out singles to Ryan Mathews and Maxx Garrett, but Beach Bums reliever Adam Brockett finished Traverse City’s third shutout in eight games by getting two strikeouts.

MacDougall, who is receiving an average of more than seven runs of support in his four starts, was staked to a big early lead. Reggie Lawson capped Traverse City’s four-run first inning off Washington starter Matt Sergey (1-3) with a three-run homer to left field on a two-out, two-strike pitch.

“It could have been different if we get that last out in the first,” Washington manager Bob Bozzuto said. “We got behind early. There are no excuses. … The bottom line is they scored runs and we didn’t put pressure on them by getting hits with runners on base. We had a lot of chances.”

Bozzuto was particularly upset with the Wild Things’ shaky defense. They made two errors – a postgame scoring change turned a third into a hit – and had outfielders throw to the wrong base and overthrow the cutoff man.

“I’m not happy with some of the things we did defensively,” he said. “They didn’t hurt us, but they didn’t look good.”

Traverse City took advantage of Washington’s two errors to score two unearned runs in the second inning to make it a 6-0 lead.

After playing a 13-inning game Thursday and a doubleheader Wednesday, Washington’s bullpen was depleted. The Wild Things need a long outing by Sergey, who did come through by pitching into the seventh inning, but the damage had been done.

The Beach Bums tacked on a run in the seventh on an RBI groundout by Adam Tomasovich.

MacDougall, meanwhile, held the Wild Things to only two hits over the first five innings.

“They were aggressive hitters so I was trying to stay around the plate and let them get themselves out,” MacDougall said. “When you have a big lead, you’re only job is to get back to the dugout as quickly as possible so you’re hitters can add on.

“We’ve been getting a lot of runs for me. That’s fun to be a part of. That (offense) was something we didn’t have last year.”

The Wild Things are 2-8 in home games but 6-3 on the road. … Attendance was 2,450. … Washington signed left-handed pitcher Tyler Ferguson to fill an open roster spot. Ferguson was 8-2 this year at La Roche College, helping the Redhawks to the NCAA Division III tournament. Ferguson made his debut in the ninth and pitched a scoreless inning. … Outfielder Danny Poma (broken nose) sat out for the third consecutive game.