AVON, Ohio — The Schaumburg Boomers scored in their first four trips to the plate to ease past the Lake Erie Crushers on the road 9-3, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three wild card series. 

Frontier League MVP Anthony Calarco put the Boomers on the board with two outs in the top of the first, tripling off the wall in center. Calarco did not have a triple during his MVP campaign. The lead reached 2-0 when Banks Tolley homered to open the second. Schaumburg broke the game open by sending nine to the plate in the third. Nick Podkul stroked a two-run single before a run scored on a wild pitch. Michael Gould smacked a two-run double with two outs to extend the lead to 7-0. Christian Fedko led off the fourth with a homer to cap the early outburst. Lake Erie was able to draw within 8-3 but the Boomers added insurance on an RBI single from Chase Dawson in the eighth to account for the final.

Cole Cook worked 6.1 innings on the mound to win the opener, retiring eight straight early in the game. Cook allowed three runs on seven hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Aaron Glickstein and Caleb Reidel finished out the victory. The offense received contributions from the entirety of the lineup as all nine reached at least once. The team finished with 15 hits in the win. The top six hitters in the order all tallied a pair of hits as seven players amassed more than one. The Boomers also drew six walks in the win.

The Boomers (58-38, 1-0) will return home with a chance to close out the series on Friday night in the 6:30pm game at Wintrust Field. RHP Buddie Pindel (9-6, 3.73) is slated to take the ball for the Boomers against RHP Dylan Spain (7-5, 2.39). Playoff tickets are on sale now. Make plans to be part of the fun! Visit boomersbaseball.com or call 847-461-3695 to secure yours.