Schaumburg Boomers use 10 walks to help beat Windy City

The Schaumburg Boomers opened a five-game road trip by drawing 10 walks to help upend the Windy City ThunderBolts 6-3 in the opener of a brief two-game set on Friday night.

The starting pitchers put up matching zeroes through the first four innings as Cole Cook and Greg Duncan went toe-to-toe. The Boomers gave Cook the lead by taking advantage of an error in the fifth. Sam Kuchinski singled home Kyle Fitzgerald with the first run.

The score remained 1-0 until the Boomers registered five runs in the eighth, taking advantage of five walks and a hit batter. The team mustered only two hits in the inning, one of which was a 2-run single from Banks Tolley. Will Prater and Kuchinski drew bases-loaded walks and Alec Craig lifted a sacrifice fly.

Cook carried a shutout into the ninth before Windy City struck for three runs. Nick Paciorek closed the victory. Cook worked 8⅓ innings to earn his second win of the year, striking out eight. The offense finished with eight hits in the game. Kuchinski, Aaron Simmons and Fitzgerald all posted a pair. All nine members of the lineup reached base at least once.