Schaumburg Boomers earn walk-off win in front of capacity home crowd

The Schaumburg Boomers treated a sold-out home crowd of 8,054 to a walk-off win over the Evansville Otters, celebrating Independence Day with a 9-8 victory Friday at Wintrust Field.

Michael Gould capped a frantic comeback with his fourth hit, a single to score Christian Fedko in the bottom of the ninth to ignite a frenzy on the Fourth. The Boomers trailed 7-2 entering the eighth and 8-7 entering the bottom of the ninth.

Schaumburg grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI double from Kyle Fitzgerald to score Banks Tolley. Evansville tied the game in the third and received a 2-run homer from JJ Cruz, his first of 3, in the fifth to take a 3-1 edge. Anthony Calarco lifted a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth to draw within 3-2, but Evansville scored two in the sixth and seventh to lead 7-2.

The Boomers scored five runs to incite the crowd and tie the game in the bottom of the eighth. Pinch-hitter Aaron Simmons logged an RBI single, Fedko doubled home two and Calarco tied the game with an opposite-field double, upping his league-best RBI total to 68, just three away from the Schaumburg single-season mark in 49 contests.

Cruz homered leading off the ninth to give Evansville the brief edge again, but Fedko legged out a fielder’s choice to score Satchell Norman and keep the game alive prior to the heroics from Gould.