Barrington alum helps Boomers shut down Bums 3-0

If pitcher Rob McDonnell wanted to make a great impression on his new team back in his old stomping grounds, he couldn't have picked a better way to do it.

The Barrington alum and University of Illinois grad came into Friday night's Schaumburg Boomers season-opener in a tough spot, as visiting Traverse City had loaded the bases in the top of sixth with nobody out.

Protecting a 3-run lead, McDonnell got the next three batters with no damage incurred.

He threw one more strong inning after that, and the Beach Bums never really threatened again as the Boomers won 3-0 in Schaumburg.

"I just had the mindset to come out and throw strikes, mix it up and hit the glove," McDonnell said.

McDonnell fanned the first two batters he faced in the pivotal sixth frame, then induced Traverse City left fielder Tyler Peterson to fly out to center field.

"Getting that soft pop fly gave me confidence to go in to the next inning," McDonnell said.

In the seventh, McDonnell struck out two more Beach Bums, two of 16 strikeouts the Boomers hurlers had on the evening.

McDonnell played in the Dodgers system last year, but after he was released Schaumburg quickly snatched him up.

He's now living back home in Barrington, where he says he has an "easy 35-minute commute to the ballpark."

"I got a call from Jamie (Boomers manager Bennett)," said the left-hander, "inviting me here, and I always had the Boomers on my radar. They're a great organization."

The Schaumburg bats did all their damage in the fifth, plating three runs.

A double to the left-center field wall by Sean Godfrey led things off, second baseman Will Soto had an RBI single, and right fielder David Harris got the big hit, a single sliced down the right field line to drive in 2 runs.

But most of the night belonged to the Boomers pitchers, as starter and winner Gunnar Kines went 5 strong innings, striking out six, while closer Jake Joyce struck out four Traverse city hitters in the ninth - yes, he struck out the side plus one - to finish out the game.

Joyce had to work a little overtime due to a dropped third strike on one of his K's by the Boomers catcher, who couldn't recover in time to throw the batter out at first.

"I think I might have done that one time before," said Joyce with a laugh of the 4-strikeout inning.

Joyce is in his third season with the Boomers, and he was the set up man out of the bullpen for his first two years - but was told by the coaching staff in spring training this year that the closer job was his to win.

And you can't get off to a much better start than Joyce did Friday, and he says that his team has even better things ahead this season.

"We've got some incredible hitters," Joyce said, "and our defense is the best in the league - you'd be hard-pressed to find a team that can even come close to us defensively. If our pitchers can just continue to be aggressive and pound the strike zone, we're going to be very successful this year."

"Gunnar (Kines) pitched a heck of a game," Joyce said, "and basically everyone was throwing strikes."