SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — The Schaumburg Boomers pulled within a game of the West Division lead with a 6-5 extra inning, pinch hit, walk-off victory over the first-place River City Rascals at Boomers Stadium Sunday afternoon.

Despite squandering a 5-2 lead, Schaumburg rallied with a run in the bottom of the tenth inning to improve to 13-8 on the young season. Chad Mozingo got the inning off on the right foot with a double down the right field line. Mozingo, who was 2-4 with a pair of runs scored, moved to third on the sacrifice bunt by Ty Nelson, who was also 2-4 on the afternoon. Nelson reached first as the attempt to throw Mozingo out at third failed, and the Rascals intentionally walked Sean Mahley to create a force at the plate.

In stepped Jereme Milons, who was originally scheduled for a day off but got the nod for the pinch hit appearance in tenth. The 6’2” veteran smacked the first pitch from River City reliever Dustin Umberger into centerfield for a single to start the celebration in Schaumburg. Mozingo crossed the plate for the game-winning run, which the first allowed by Umberger this season as the hard-throwing righty took the loss for the Rascals. 

LHP Adam Tollefson earned the victory for the Boomers after pitching a scoreless tenth inning and adding one strikeout. Starter Robby Donovan pitched much better than his stat line would suggest as the righty allowed just two runs through seven innings before running into a little trouble in the eighth.

The 6’5” Donovan left with two runners on in the eighth and was charged with five funs on six hits in 7.1 innings Sunday. Alex Thieroff faced three batters and allowed a hit and a walk before giving way to Patrick Minceywho was lights out again for the Boomers. The side-winding right-hander struck out three and did not allow a hit in his 1.2 innings of work. 

River City struck first after Curran Redal led off the game with a single and came around to score a batter later on a double off the bat of Jeremy Synan. The Boomers answered by tying the score without the benefit of a hit, when Nate Baumann’s sacrifice fly to center drove in Karexon Sanchez from third.

The Boomers broke the game open with a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth to take a 5-1 lead. Drew Heithoff contributed a run scoring groundout after Nelson lead of the inning with a single, moved to second when Mahley was hit by a pitch and advanced to third when Mike Valadez put down a sacrifice bunt. 

Nick Kuroczko started the fifth with a double and advanced to third on a Frank Pfister fly out. Nate Baumann, making his first appearance in the cleanup spot, smacked a double to drive in Kuroczko and give the Boomers a 3-1 advantage. After a Mozingo single, Nelson collected his second single of the afternoon drive in Baumann from second. Another single in the inning, this time by Mahley, gave the Boomers a four run lead as Mozingo scored from third.

The Rascals cut the lead to 5-2 on a sacrifice fly by Gerardo Avila in the sixth and River City forced extra innings with a three-run eighth. Jason Patton flew out to center for the third run for the visitors and Synan scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-4. Avila singled to drive in Josh Workman from second to tie the game before Milons heroics in the bottom of the tenth. 

One of the joys of independent minor league baseball is that the teams always play to win rather than develop talent, and the Boomers have certainly done that so far this season, especially at home where Chicago’s newest professional franchise boasts an outstanding record of 10-2 in games at Boomers Stadium.

PECKS

• The Boomers have four walk-off wins in 12 home games and are now 3-2 in extra inning contests (3-0 at home)
• Schaumburg is 9-0 at home when their starter pitches at least six innings
• The Boomers improved to 8-0 in games where they are error free
• DH Ty Nelson came through with his first multi-hit game of his young professional career
• The RBI-single in the tenth by Jereme Milons marked the first pinch-hit at home as well as the first pinch-hit RBI in franchise history
• Karexon Sanchez left the game in the top of the seventh with an apparent hamstring injury

Before all the exciting action returns to Boomers Stadium on Thursday, June 14 for a six-game homestand, the Boomers travel to Joliet for a brief three-game series with LHP Cameron Roth (3-0, 1.59) of the Boomers set to take on RHP Steven Maxwell (2-1, 2.96) in game one Monday evening. Follow the Boomers and Broadcaster Tim Calderwood on the road at your source for everything Boomers Baseball, online at www.boomersbaseball.com.

You don’t want to miss all the fun so get your tickets to an upcoming Schaumburg Boomers game today by calling 847.461.3695, visiting www.boomersbaseball.com or stopping by the Boomers Box Office during regular business hours Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. or on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.