SCHAUMBURG, IL — Before the largest crowd since prior to the pandemic, the Schaumburg Boomers dropped a 3-2 decision to the Southern Illinois Miners on Saturday night at Wintrust Field.

The teams traded zeroes through the first five innings of the game as Orlando Rodriguez and Trent Johnson of Southern Illinois matched each other inning by inning. Southern Illinois left three runners in scoring position against Rodriguez while the Boomers managed just two hits against Johnson. That changed rapidly in the bottom of the sixth. Brett Milazzo drew a one out walk, stole second and moved to third on an error before scoring the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly from Matt Bottcher. Quincy Nieporte followed with his 11th homer of the year, extending his league leading total and making the lead 2-0. Southern Illinois tallied a run in the top of the seventh and scored twice with two outs in the eighth to grab the win.

Rodriguez threw seven innings and allowed just one run on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Jake Joyce suffered the loss. Chase Dawson tallied two hits as the Boomers finished with six. Dawson notched a double and stole a base. The drama filled contest was witnessed by a crowd of 6,940.

The Boomers (19-15) conclude the series tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. by celebrating Independence Day with a Post-Game Fireworks Supershow presented by Residential Heating & Cooling. LHP Bryan Ketchie (0-1, 7.15) takes the ball for the Boomers against RHP Zac Westcott (3-1, 4.64). Limited tickets remain and the lawn has already sold out. Visit boomersbaseball.com now for tickets and information or call 847-461-3695.