SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — The Schaumburg Boomers jumped out to a 5-1 lead and held on for a 5-4 victory over the visiting Gateway Grizzlies at Boomers Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The Boomers used a three-run second inning to take an early lead. A one-out walk drawn by RF Nate Baumann and a single by DH Sean Mahley put runners on first and third for Boomers catcher Mike Valadez. The California native singled sharply to centerfield to drive in the first run of the ballgame. On the play, Mahley and Valadez moved up a base on an error by the Grizzlies Antone DeJesus on the well-hit liner which bounced just in front of the Gateway centerfielder. Both runs came around to score on an RBI-groundout to second by 2B Drew Heithoff and when SS Andrew Cohn reached on another Grizzlies error.

Gateway got on the board in the top of the third when Jonathan Johnson singled to drive in Casey Allison to make it a 3-1 Boomers advantage.

Red-hot Frank Pfister extended his franchise-record hitting streak to eight consecutive games with a laser to left to start the third. The next batter, CF Jereme Milons smacked a double to the gap in left-center to drive in Pfister all the way from first base. Milons advanced to third on a wild pitch and a scored on an RBI-single off the bat of LF Chad Mozingo, giving the Boomers a 5-1 lead. 

After getting the first two men on in the top of the sixth, Gateway plated two runs and made it a 5-3 ballgame. Jerod Yakubik drove in Justin Dunning on a sacrifice fly and Johnson scored a batter later on single by John Selby. The Grizzlies would add another run in the ninth on an RBI-single by DeJesus to make it 5-4, but Schaumburg reliever RHP Alex Thieroff struck out Allison stranding the tying run on first to record his second save of the season

RHP Robby Donovan delivered another strong performance on his home mound, earning the victory after six innings of work. The 6’5” righty allowed three earned runs on six hits with a strikeout and a pair of walks. RHP Jason Braun pitched a scoreless seventh with a strikeout and the newest Boomer, LHP Adam Tollefson threw a scoreless eighth before turning things over to Thieroff in the ninth. 

Game Two of this three game series will feature arguably the best guy in a very good Boomers starting rotation in LHP Cameron Roth (2-0, 1.77), who is scheduled to face RHP Tim Brown (1-1, 2.11) for Gateway.

PECKS

• 3B Frank Pfister extended his franchise-record hitting streak to eight games with his third inning single
• The Boomers improved to 6-1 at home on the young season
• RHP Alex Thieroff became the first Boomers player to record more than one save
• Prior to the game, the Boomers released LHP Thomas Nelson

Join the Boomers at 6:30 p.m. for Plumbers Night featuring a special appearance by the Mario Bros. Great seats are available by calling the Boomers at 847.461.3695, by visiting www.boomersbaseball.com or dropping by the Box Office during regular business hours or from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.