Boomers hold on for 5-4 win

The Schaumburg Boomers jumped out to a 5-1 lead Tuesday night and held on for a 5-4 victory over the visiting Gateway Grizzlies at Boomers Stadium.

The Boomers used a 3-run second inning to take an early lead.

A one-out walk for Nate Baumann and a single by Sean Mahley put runners on first and third for Boomers catcher Mike Valadez. The California native singled sharply to center field to drive in the first run.

On the play, Mahley and Valadez moved up a base on an error by Antone DeJesus on a liner that bounced just in front of the Gateway center fielder. Both runners scored on an RBI groundout by Drew Heithoff and an error by shortstop Andrew Cohn.

Gateway got on the board in the top of the third when Jonathan Johnson singled to drive in Casey Allison to make it a 3-1 Boomers advantage.

Red-hot Frank Pfister extended his hitting streak to eight games with a hit to left to start the third. Jereme Milons then smacked a double to the gap in left-center to drive in Pfister from first.

Milons advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Chad Mozingo to make it 5-1.

After getting the first two men on in the sixth, Gateway scored 2 runs to make it 5-3. Jerod Yakubik drove in Justin Dunning on a sacrifice fly and Johnson scored a batter later on a single by John Selby.

The Grizzlies added a run in the ninth on a single by DeJesus to make it 5-4, but Schaumburg reliever Alex Thieroff struck out Allison stranding the tying run on first to record his second save of the season.

Right-hander Robby Donovan delivered another strong performance, earning the victory with 6 innings of work. He allowed 3 runs on 6 hits with a strikeout and a pair of walks.

Jason Braun pitched a scoreless seventh with a strikeout and the newest Boomer, Adam Tollefson, threw a scoreless eighth before turning things over to Thieroff in the ninth.