SCHAUMBURG, IL — The largest crowd of the year was on hand for Star Wars Night at Wintrust Field as the 2021 Frontier League Champion Schaumburg Boomers opened a weekend series against the Ottawa Titans with a 9-1 defeat.

Ottawa scored three runs in the third inning to take the lead. The Boomers responded with a single run in the fourth with two outs. Blake Berry doubled and scored on an RBI single from Blake Grant-Parks to ignite the crowd of 6,664. The Titans extended the lead with a pair of runs in the fifth and added four in the sixth to account for the final.

Kyle Arjona suffered the loss, working 5.2 innings. Tanner Shears came on in relief and stranded a runner at third in the sixth before throwing three more innings, retiring the final eight in 3.1 innings of work, striking out four. The pitching staff combined to fan 10 in the first game with double-digit strikeouts since the All-Star break. Ottawa finished with 12 hits while the Boomers notched eight. Grant-Parks notched a pair while Berry doubled twice. Braxton Davidson saw his on-base streak reach 20 games with a single in the fourth, the first hit of the game for the Boomers against Ottawa starter Tyler Jandron who worked into the eighth and struck out eight. Clint Hardy singled in the sixth to stretch his streak to 17 straight contests reaching base. The crowd was the 11th of the year over 5,000 for the league’s leader in attendance.

The Boomers (33-29) will continue the homestand on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. with the middle game against Ottawa. The first 1,000 fans will receive a Boomers T-Shirt courtesy of iSolved and Blink Tees. RHP Shumpei Yoshikawa (4-7, 6.46) starts for the Boomers opposite RHP Zac Westcott (7-1, 4.71). Tickets for the 2022 season are on sale now! Visit boomersbaseball.com.