Another sweep for Boomers

The first-place Schaumburg Boomers were just one out away from a series shutout, but in the end settled for a 7-1 win and a series sweep of the defending Frontier League Champion Joliet Slammers in front of 5,248 fans on Friday in Schaumburg.

The Boomers (38-25) put the game out of reach early with a 5-run third inning and that was more than enough for rookie right-hander Cody Griebling, who went the distance for his first complete game as a professional.

Griebling held the Slammers (26-37) to just 6 hits and racked up a career-high 8 strikeouts to improve to 2-1 on the season. The complete game by Griebling marked the third such performance by a Boomers pitcher since the all-star break and Schaumburg has now completed sweeps in six of the 12 series played at Boomers Stadium in 2012.

Karexon Sanchez drove in 3 runs with a 2-for-4 day at the plate, which included the Boomers’ league-leading 22nd triple in the third inning. The Boomers scored 5 runs on 4 hits in the frame, highlighted by Jereme Milons’ double Nate Baumann’s sacrifice fly.

The Boomers extended their advantage to 7-0 following a solo homer off the bat of Steve McQuail — his seventh in 15 games since the all-star break — in the fifth and an RBI-single to left from Sanchez scored Nick Kuroczko.