Flyers win thriller in extras
Published on August 5, 2008 under Northern League (NL)
Schaumburg Flyers News Release
Schaumburg, IL - An old baseball axiom tells teams to win at home as often as they can, no matter the circumstance. The circumstance for the Schaumburg Flyers on Tuesday night was the beginning of a quick three-game series before heading to a weekend set in Fargo to face the RedHawks. Instead of looking ahead to a long bus ride, the Flyers battled tooth and nail against the Kansas City T-Bones all the way into the eleventh inning. That's when a sacrifice fly to right field from Schaumburg CF Rob Fischer (1-for-3, RBI) scored Peanut Williams from third and gave the Flyers a satisfying 6-5 victory.
Williams (4-for-4, RBI, 3 R) was a monster at the plate, and he showed it in his first at-bat. His fly ball to right field just kept on carrying, and Peanut sent all the way over the wall for a 1-0 lead to lead off the bottom of the second. Schaumburg (27-45) wasn't finished in the inning after the blast, as a single from RF Julius Thames (2-for-4, 2 RBI) put a man on first with nobody out. That's when Thames used his wheels to swipe second and third base in the inning, and his speediness came home to roost on a single by 2B Wilson Matos (1-for-4, RBI). After LF Jermaine Allensworth (1-for-4, RBI) hit a sacrifice fly to score another run, the Flyers led 3-0.
The home team extended the lead after Williams hit a double down the left-field line with one out in the third inning. Thames wasted no time to drive his mate in, singling to score Peanut and make it 4-0. The top of the fourth saw Kansas City (35-37) cut that lead in half on a big two-out, two-run single from T-Bones 2B Bo Hart (1-for-5, 2 RBI), who made his first appearance at Alexian Field since his release from the team in mid-July. After five full innings, the score remained at 4-2, with Schaumburg still on top.
Another two-out rally cut the Flyers lead to one run. Kansas City SS Geoff McCallum (1-for-5, Run) continued his hot hitting against his former team, crushing a triple to right-center with two men out. The next batter was CF Aharon Eggleston (2-for-4, RBI), who singled to score McCallum and make it a 4-3 contest.
Julius Thames provided an answer and another two-run cushion on an RBI fielder's choice with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, making it 5-3 Flyers. But the truly big inning in regulation came for the T-Bones in the top of the seventh.
With Flyers starter Alex Rollin looking for his first home victory, he went out for the seventh inning to face the heart of the T-Bones order. Unfortunately for him, Rollin allowed solo home runs to RF Greg Jacobs (2-for-6, RBI) and 1B Jim Fasano (1-for-5, RBI) that tied the game at five runs apiece. Once a combination of Jim Popp and John Smith held serve threw a scoreless eighth and ninth inning, it was time to head to extras.
Schaumburg reliever Mark Goodman (1-1) came on for the tenth and eleventh innings, and worked very strongly in each. Both frames saw Goodman surrender a one-out, infield hit, and both times he came back to strand the runner with the third out.
The deciding eleventh inning started auspiciously for Schaumburg and terribly for Kansas City. Leading off the bottom of the frame, Peanut Williams took a pitch from T-Bones reliever Todd Moser (0-1) right back up the middle on a frozen rope. That hot shot hit off the foot of Moser and ricocheted all the way over to third base, where Kansas City's Neb Brown (0-for-4, Run) tried to bare-hand the ball and throw to first in time for an out.
Instead of landing in Jim Fasano's glove, the ball wound up in the stands on an errant throw, and Williams took second base while Moser limped back to his clubhouse. An excellent sacrifice bunt by Thames set up the big moment for Fischer: one out with a man on third in an extra-innings tie. The Schaumburg center fielder connected - sending a ball high and deep enough to right field that Jacobs couldn't throw out Williams at the plate on a tag play - and the Flyers won their fifth extra-inning game against only one loss.
For the fourth straight series, Schaumburg wins game one, and they'll have to wake up early to try and land game two. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 at Alexian Field, where the Flyers will send RHP Justin Jordan (1-1, 2.08) to the mound to counter T-Bones RHP Kenny Durost (5-4, 4.67). If you can't make it out to the park for some day baseball, be sure to listen in on the fun at flyersbaseball.com.
The Schaumburg Flyers are a member of the Northern League, a 6-team Independent Professional Baseball League established in 1993. Opening Day is May 15th, 2008. For ticket information call (847) 891-BALL (2255) or visit www.flyersbaseball.com
Northern League Stories from August 5, 2008
- Flyers win thriller in extras - Schaumburg Flyers
- Sacrifice Fly in 11th Downs T-Bones - Kansas City Monarchs
- RailCats Win Twice Tuesday; Haake's Walk-Off Double Finishes Sweep - Gary SouthShore Railcats
- RedHawks routed Tuesday night - Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
- JackHammers swept Tuesday night - Joliet JackHammers
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