Boomers squander chances in loss to Lake Erie

The Schaumburg Boomers left 12 men on base in a 5-3 loss to the Lake Erie Crushers on Sunday afternoon in Ohio, dropping two-of-three in the weekend series.

Schaumburg loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning but did not score. After the Boomers left another runner in scoring position in the second, Brayden Jobert homered for Lake Erie in the bottom of the inning to put the hosts ahead 1-0.

Lake Erie added two more in the third to open a 3-0 advantage. The Boomers were finally able to score in the fourth when a wild pitch with the bases loaded enabled Cole Turney to come across. Lake Erie responded with a run in the bottom half to again grab a three-run cushion at 4-1, and tacked on another in the fifth to lead 5-1.

Kyle Fitzgerald smacked his 10th homer of the year in the seventh, a two-run blast that brought the Boomers within 5-3. The tying run came to the plate in the eighth and ninth but Lake Erie held on for the win.

Schaumburg drew eight walks and tallied seven hits along with a pair of hit batters. Fitzgerald reached four times and posted two hits. Jeff Nicol was on base three times. Alec Craig added to his league-best walk total with two more. Derek Salata allowed five runs in five innings, suffering the loss. The two teams split the six meetings this season, all of which were in Ohio.