SAUGET, IL — Gunnar Kines notched six shutout innings and the pitching staff struck out 15 as the Schaumburg Boomers, presented by Wintrust Community Banks, opened the season with a 6-1 victory over the Gateway Grizzlies on the road Friday night.

Kines hit the first batter of the game before retiring the next 10, allowed a single in the fourth, and then retired the next eight. Kines struck out nine in notching the win. The Boomers gave Kines all the support he would need early, scoring a single run in the first. Jack Parenty led off the game with an opposite field single, moved to third when Matt Rose reached on an error and scored on an RBI single from Quincy Nieporte with one out. The team tacked on three in the fifth to pull away on a wild pitch, a bases loaded walk to Clint Hardy and an RBI single from Connor Oliver. Two more runs scored in the eighth on a throwing error and a groundout.

Behind Kines, Darrell Thompson, Dylan Stutsman and Connor Eller finished out the win. The 15 strikeouts matched the fifth most in franchise history. The pitching staff allowed just three hits in the win. Parenty, Hardy and Nieporte all notched two hits in the win as the Boomers totaled nine.

The season opening series continues on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. with All-Star Payton Lobdell making his season debut for the Boomers.