Boomers draw 11 walks in win over Gateway

The Schaumburg Boomers drew 11 walks and scored in four straight innings to log an 8-2 victory over the Gateway Grizzlies on Saturday night in the middle game of the final series at Wintrust Field in Schaumburg before the All-Star break.

Gateway led early for the second consecutive night, plating a pair of two-out runs against starter Buddie Pindel in the second. Gateway didn’t record another hit until the ninth inning.

Jeff Nicol opened the scoring for the Boomers with his third homer of the year leading off the third. Kellum Clark coaxed a bases-loaded walk to tie the game in the fourth with two outs before Cole Smith smacked a two-run double to hand the Boomers a 4-2 advantage. Schaumburg added to the lead with a run in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the ninth to account for the final, drawing at least one walk in each of those frames.

Pindel worked six innings to earn his sixth win of the season. The All-Star allowed just two runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Pindel faced the minimum from the end of the second through the sixth. Tanner Shears, Aaron Glickstein and Caleb Riedel all worked scoreless innings to close out the victory. Nicol, Banks Tolley and Christian Fedko all tallied two hits as the Boomers finished with 10. Alec Craig and Kyle Fitzgerald both drew three walks. Clark walked twice.