The Schaumburg Boomers were down to the final out and facing an All-Star closer, but did not blink, rallying to secure a 7-3 victory in 10 innings over the Lake Erie Crushers and claim a fourth consecutive victory.
With two outs in the top of the ninth, Will Prater pulled a triple past the diving Scout Knotts and into the right field corner to tie the score against Michael Brewer, who allowed just one earned run to this point in the season. The rally continued into the 10th after Lake Erie left the winning run at second. Andrew Sojka tripled home Christian Fedko on the first pitch of the inning to hand the Boomers the lead for the first time at 4-3. Banks Tolley, Aaron Simmons and John Fiorenza would add RBI singles to complete the four-run spurt. The singles from Simmons and Fiorenza came with two outs.
Lake Erie built a 3-0 edge behind a pair of runs in the first and one in the third but that was all the hosts could muster against the Schaumburg pitching staff. Eric Turner worked six innings and allowed just three runs. Deretd Parra, Kai Taylor, Mitch White and Dylan Stutsman all twirled scoreless innings out of the bullpen. White earned the win. Sojka, Tolley and Simmons all tallied a pair of hits as the Boomers finished with 11.
The Boomers (32-20) will have a quick turnaround with a day game at 11:05am on Wednesday for the middle contest of the series. The team will return home this weekend for three games prior to the All-Star break. The fun of the 2025 season is just getting started. Tickets for all home games this summer are now on sale! Make plans to be part of the fun! Visit www.boomersbaseball.com or call 847-461-3695 to secure yours.