Boomers rally past Windy City, shrink magic number for division title

The Schaumburg Boomers scored three times in the bottom of the eighth inning to erase a two-run deficit and post a 6-5 win over the Windy City ThunderBolts on Tuesday at Wintrust Field.

Facing a familiar foe in Windy City starter Eric Turner, who played for more than half the season with Schaumburg, the Boomers plated single runs in the first two innings to lead 2-0. Nick Podkul singled home Chase Dawson in the first and Christian Fedko logged an RBI single in the second.

Windy City scored three runs in the third to take the lead and tacked on another run in the fifth.

Alex Calarco homered leading off the sixth to bring the Boomers within 4-3 but Windy City countered with a single run in the seventh. With one out in the eighth the Boomers were able to draw three consecutive walks to load the bases. Anthony Calarco tied the game with a two-run single after a pitching change. Banks Tolley dove underneath the tag to avoid a double play that allowed the winning run to score.

Fedko, Anthony Calarco and Aaron Simmons all notched two hits. Fedko also drew three walks to reach base five times. Nick Paciorek earned the win in relief. Caleb Riedel entered with the tying run at third and recorded a pair of strikeouts to log his third save with the Boomers, shutting down his former team.

The Boomers (56-35) now own a magic number of three to clinch the West Division with five games to play.