Home Exhibition Contests

The Beach Bums announced today an exhibition doubleheader with the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti on May 16 at Wuerfel Park...

Both contests will be seven innings in length and are open to the public...Admission to Wuerfel Park will be $5 for one or both games...First pitch is slated for noon...The games will be the first chance to see Gregg Langbehn's team on the field before the regular season begins on May 22 in Kalamazoo...

Last season under the guidance of former pitching coach John Sexton, with former manager Jon Cahill attending his Hall of Fame induction at UMASS-Lowell, the Beach Bums traveled to Gary, Indiana to play a pair of contests at US Steel Yard, the home of the Northern League's Gary SouthShore Railcats...The Beach Bums finished 1-1 in their 2008 exhibition slate, falling to Northern League Champion Gary, led by the Frontier League's all-time managerial wins leader Greg Tagert, by a 6-4 count, rallying after allowing the champs four first inning runs...

The Beach Bums won the nightcap, topping Frontier League champion Windy City 3-2 after falling behind early again with two first inning runs to the ThunderBolts...

More Info

Beach Bums Add Catcher

The Beach Bums have acquired catcher Andrew Barbaro to complete a 2008 deal with the Sioux Falls Canaries of the American Association...

Barbaro played in 30 games for Sioux Falls as the backup catcher and hit .258 with seven doubles, a homer, and eight RBI...He posted two three-hit games including his first professional contest against St. Paul on May 16...The Canaries won the first half title in the American Association North Division and captured the American Association crown by besting the expansion Grand Prairie Airhogs and former Beach Bums outfielder Aaron Garza in a best-of-five series 3-1...Barbaro holds Rookie-2 status in the Frontier League...

While Barbaro has never been in a Beach Bums uniform he has experience at Wuerfel Park...Barbaro attended the Beach Bums open tryout prior to the 2007 season but was not signed...The 2007 tryout is where the Beach Bums inked Brett Bostelman, who is entering his third season with the team in 2009...

Traverse City used Matt Imwalle and Damon Lessler on the 2008 roster from the Canaries, and also dealt a veteran shortstop who had signed with the team in the offseason but did not play in the Frontier League...

More Info

Options Extended on Lessler, Newton, and Trausch

Damon Lessler, Eric Newton, and Matt Trausch will return to the Beach Bums for spring training in 2009 after having their options extended for another season...All three players will hold Rookie-2 status for the season...

Lessler (Left) appeared in 22 games for the Beach Bums as a utility infielder playing second, short, and third...He made the team out of spring training and recorded 41 at bats and hit .146 with two doubles and five RBI...Lessler drove in a pair of runs at Windy City on June 8th and tallied his lone multi-hit contest...

Newton (Above Left) was the starter at third base for most of the final third of the season after being let go by the Brewers organization...He played in 41 contests and hit .183 with four homers and 16 RBI...Newton drove in a season best four runs at Florence on August 16 and finished with seven multi-hit games and four games of multi-RBI...

Trausch (Above Right) pitched in nine games out of the bullpen and finished 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA in 13.2 innings as a true rookie from Oakland University...He struck out six and walked nine...Primarily used as a long reliever, Trausch lasted longer than an inning on three different occasions including a 3.2 inning stint against Florence at Wuerfel Park on August 28 when he struck out a career high three batters...

Further Info

Roblin Traded

Brad Roblin, a two-year member of the Beach Bums, has been traded to the Worcester Tornadoes of the Can-Am League...

A product of the University of Michigan, Roblin joined the Beach Bums in July of 2007after his collegiate career ended in the NCAA Super Regionals to eventual national champion Oregon State...In 45 games with the Beach Bums he batted .333 with a pair of doubles, three triples, 15 RBI, and nine stolen bases...Roblin equaled the Beach Bums' single game record for hits with a 4-for-5 showing at Wuerfel Park against Rockford on August 29...He started 41 games in center field and two in left...

During the 2008 campaign Roblin began the season as the starting right fielder and also saw significant time in the designated hitter slot...He collided with the right field wall early in the season and struggled at times to fully recover from a knee injury suffered on the play which caused him to miss nearly two weeks of action...He hit .232 and stole eight bases in 72 games with 15 doubles, three homers, and 30 RBI, all career bests in his first full season as a professional...When Mike Goetz signed with the Pirates late in the season, Roblin assumed the leadoff slot...He connected on his first professional homer at Kalamazoo on June 16...Roblin drove in a career high four runs during a win at Washington on May 26 and posted 11 multi-hit games...

Roblin, who always brought energy to the dugout, was scheduled to be an LS-1 in the Frontier League this season...Worcester is near his home of Wayland, Mass...

In exchange for Roblin, the Beach Bums received a player to be named...

Full Story

Retirements

One of the things about independent baseball is that oftentimes players find new opportunities outside of baseball and decide to end their playing career...Remembering back to 2008, R.C. Dickerson and Curtis Ledbetter both retired before the start of the season after initially having agreed to return for the 2008 campaign...

Two players from the 2008 Beach Bums announced their retirement yesterday...Ted Gjeldum and Jeff Brown have both decided to hang up the spikes and pursue other opportunities...The Beach Bums are extremely grateful for the time they spent in a uniform...

Brown played in Traverse City for two seasons and was willing to help the team in any way possible...He even spent some time behind the plate during the 2007 campaign...In 2008 Brown assumed the role of starting third baseman for a time and also made starts in right field, left field, shortstop and second base...He played in 71 games and hit .211 for the Beach Bums with 29 RBI last year...Brown drove in a season high three runs in a May 30 game against Kalamazoo at Wuerfel Park...During 2007, Brown batted .207 with five homers and 37 RBI in 92 games...

Gjeldum was one of two left-handed relievers for the Beach Bums last season...He set a franchise record for appearances with 46 and sported a 3.60 ERA with 55 strikeouts in 50 innings...Gjeldum's season highlight occurred on July 27 at Wuerfel Park against Washington when he struck out a season high five batters in two innings of perfect relief...Gjeldum struck out more than one batter in 15 of his mound visits...

Both Brown and Gjeldum were going to be LS-1's by the Frontier League's classification system for 2009...

Details

New Hitting Coach

With Jason Wuerfel on his way to manage in the Prospect League Gregg Langbehn was in need of a new hitting coach and continued to build his staff by adding John Tamargo, Jr.

Also a former member of the Houston Astros organization, Tamargo, Jr. has spent the past four seasons in the Astros system most recently working for the Corpus Christi Hooks the Astros Double-A affiliate of the Texas League as hitting coach...

He spent eight seasons in the minor leagues including seven with the Mets and reached Triple-A on three seperate occasions...

Tamargo, Jr. joins Roger Mason as coaches for the 2009 Beach Bums...

More Info