Boomers clinch fifth trip to the playoffs

The Schaumburg Boomers secured a return trip to the postseason, the fifth in franchise history, by scoring a 4-3 win at Wintrust Field over the Lake Erie Crushers on Wednesday.

Both teams plated unearned runs in the first inning. The Boomers opened a 2-1 lead behind a Braxton Davidson RBI single in the third, scoring William Salas. Lake Erie countered with two runs in the fourth to open a 3-2 edge. Brett Milazzo tied the game with a double to center in the sixth, scoring Chase Dawson on a controversial play. The winning run came across with two outs in the seventh when Blake Berry singled home Alec Craig.

Tanner Shears earned the win in relief with 1.2 scoreless frames. Darrell Thompson struck out two in the ninth for his 16th save of the year. Shumpei Yoshikawa threw six innings and allowed just two earned runs while adding to his team record strikeout total with three. The offense finished with six hits. Dawson and Milazzo both totaled a pair.

The Boomers (52-40) hold a 1.5 game lead in the battle for home field advantage in the wild card game. Thursday night is the final game of the regular season at Wintrust Field. LHP Kobey Schlotman (4-2, 3.94) is scheduled to take the ball in the home finale against former Schaumburg LHP Gunnar Kines (4-6, 4.22) who is the league's career leader in strikeouts.