CRESTWOOD, IL – For the second straight day, the ThunderBolts fell behind 2-0 early. This time, they were unable to come back as they fell to the Schaumburg Boomers 4-2 at Standard Bank Stadium Saturday night.
The Boomers wasted no time jumping out to a lead. Alexi Colon led off the game with a triple and scored when Tyler Sciacca reached on an error.
They added a run in the second without getting a hit. Mark Nelson walked and moved to second on a wild pitch, he scored on two flyouts.
The ThunderBolts got one back in the bottom of the second. Andrew Brauer singled and advanced on a balk. Max White’s two-out single brought him in.
Schaumburg extended their lead once more in the fourth. Bobby Martin was hit by a pitch and, after a Ryan Solberg double, Mike Valadez’s groundout scored Martin. The Boomers had two other chances to score in the middle innings, but Colon was thrown out at the plate in both the third and fifth.
They got their last run in the sixth when Nelson walked and Solberg singled him in.
The ThunderBolts mounted a slight two-out rally with back-to-back hits in the bottom of the sixth. Andrew Brauer doubled and Jon Mestas singled him home. The Bolts, though, could not muster anything off of the Boomers bullpen, getting just one baserunner in the final three innings.
Anthony Smith (3-1) allowed two runs in seven innings for the win while Jason Kafka (0-1) took the loss, going four innings with three runs allowed. Dexter Price worked a scoreless ninth for his seventh save.
The rubber match between the Bolts and Boomers will be played on Sunday afternoon. Daniel Cropper (2-3, 5.81) will start game three for the ThunderBolts and Schaumburg will start Seth Webster (1-2, 3.25). It is Standard Bank Family Day and fans will be invited to get autographs and play catch on the field after the game. First pitch from Standard Bank Stadium is scheduled for 2:05 and the broadcast can be heard on WXAV 88.3 FM and wxav.com.
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