By: Braeden Jones
JOLIET, IL – A slow start turned into a long rain delay before finally continuing to allow the Schaumburg Boomers (46-35) to beat the Joliet Slammers (32-49) in a patient 5-1 win to sweep the series.
The Boomers would start the game off right in the top of the 1st inning. Kyle Fitzgerald would be the first player put on base after being hit by a pitch, and singles for Anthony Calarco and Kellum Clark would load the bases. Banks Tolley would hit a ball in play and survive a double play that the Slammers attempted to turn, keeping the start of this game rolling and allowing Fitzgerald to score. That gave Schaumburg the first lead at 1-0.
The Slammers would take a few innings to find their footing, but they would tie up the game in the bottom of the 4th. After he was out on a deep fly ball his first time up, Peyton Carr returned for his second at-bat and hit a ball even deeper to take it over the left field wall for a solo homer. That tied this game at 1-1.
The Boomers came rolling into a rainy top of the 7th to snag the lead back. Christian Fedko and Alec Craig would be walked to start it off and a sacrifice bunt from Fitzgerald would move them to third and second base, respectively. Anthony Calarco would reach first base at the cost of Fedko getting out, now pushing Craig to third in his place. Clark finally brought runners home with a 2-RBI double, scoring Craig and Anthony Calarco. Tolley followed that up with an RBI single to bring Clark around to home plate. Chase Dawson and Will Prater would be walked to load the bases, which allowed Tolley to score on a wild pitch alongside moving Dawson to third base.
With runners at first and third base with two outs, Alex Calarco was facing a 1-2 count before the game was put into a rain delay. At about 11:30 pm CT after a two and a half hour delay, this game was finally picked back up. It only took one pitch to notch the final strike on Alex Calarco, concluding a lingering top of the 7th inning. After hours of waiting, Schaumburg’s runs counted to move the score to 5-1.
No players would make it on base for the rest of the game, giving the Boomers a 5-1 victory in a game that spanned a grand total of five and a half hours.
The Slammers will stay in Illinois as they drive over to play the Windy City ThunderBolts starting on Friday as the start of playoffs looms closer. The Boomers will head to Kentucky to play the Florence Y’alls beginning Friday as they aim to stay atop the West Division in the Frontier League.
