Schaumburg Boomers keep playoff hopes alive with road victory

The Schaumburg Boomers kept their playoff hopes alive by claiming a 5-3 victory over the Lake Erie Crushers in Ohio on Thursday night, winning a road series for the first time since mid-June.

Lake Erie starter Matt Mulhearn mowed through the first time around the Schaumburg lineup, retiring the first nine batters of the contest. Jacob Smith was just as strong on the flip side for the Boomers, retiring nine of the first 10 to visit.

Schaumburg broke through in the fourth as Alec Craig registered the first hit of the game and Andrew Sojka followed with a bunt single. With one away and the bases loaded, Anthony Calarco drove a 2-run single down the line in right while a third run came in on a throwing error.

Chase Dawson drove home a run with a groundout in the fourth to make the score 4-0. Sam Franco homered in the sixth to score the first run for Lake Erie, but the Boomers added a needed insurance tally in the seventh on a bunt single with two outs from Dawson.

Lake Erie scored twice in the bottom of the inning and had the tying run at the plate in the seventh, eighth and ninth but could not score. Jake Joyce capped the win by working the ninth to earn his 14th save of the year.

Jacob Smith matched a season high by throwing seven innings, striking out eight with no walks. Smith moved to 5-1 on the year with the win. Mitch White worked the eighth. The save for Joyce was his 59th as the Frontier League’s all-time leader in appearances matched Dexter Price for the all-time franchise lead.

The offense pushed out 10 hits after managing just 12 in the first two games of the series. Craig reached base four times with two hits and two walks. The leadoff man walked seven times in the series. Dawson tallied two hits as eight of the nine in the lineup recorded a hit.