FL River City Rascals

Boomers Take Game Two, Force Rubber Match on Sunday

Published on July 17, 2016 under Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


A two-out double in the eighth inning propelled the Schaumburg Boomers to a 5-4 win in game two of the series against the River City Rascals Saturday night at CarShield Field.

The Boomers win forces the rubber match Sunday afternoon and each team will have the chance to capture their first series victory in the month of July.

Coming off an 8-4 loss against the Rascals in game one, the Boomers jumped out to a four run lead early on against the Rascals right-hander Francis Ramirez.

In front of 3, 050 fans, Ramirez was making his fourth start of the year and after striking out the side in the opening frame, he struggled with his command his next time out to the mound and walked three before the Boomers began to put the ball in play.

With one out and the bases loaded, second baseman Jordan Dean provided the first run with an infield RBI single that scored James Keller and then slugger Paul Kronenfeld followed that up with a bases clearing double to give the Boomers an early 4-0 lead.

The double chased Ramirez out of the game and manager Steve Brook brought in Reese Gregory to avoid further damage. Ramirez left allowing four runs on three hits and walked four.

The right-hander out of St. Cloud State University, Gregory, was stellar in his ninth outing of the year and kept the team in the game allowing no runs on two hits in four 1/3 innings.

"My goal was to come in and throw strikes, try to keep the opponent off-balance and do whatever I needed to help my team try and get a win," Gregory said.

River City used his solid efforts on the mound and gave him his first run of support in the fourth inning against Boomers starter Scott Schultz. Clint Freeman doubled with one out, got to third on a stolen base and then came home to score on an error from catcher James Keller.

Prior to that run, the Rascals had a runner in scoring position the previous two innings, however were not able to execute.

Schultz tossed a three up three down fifth inning and then hit Alexi Colon to begin a rough home half of the sixth.

Kyle Gaedele followed that up with a single and with one out, Clint Freeman added more numbers to his great series by delivering a two RBI double down the right field line that brought the Rascals within one, 4-3.

Robby Enslen flew out and Schultz walked Braxton Martinez for the final batter of his outing. Boomers Manager Jaime Bennett went to Derek DeYoung and Brook countered with a pinch-hitter, Danny Rosenbaum.

In his first at-bat of the 2016 campaign at CarShield Field, the rookie from Louisville answered with a RBI single to tie the game up at four. However, that would be the closest the Rascals came to winning as they stranded two in the seventh and the Boomers got a one out single off Will Schierholz to put the go-ahead run on base. Two batters later, Mikal Hill drove him in with a two out RBI double and the Boomers took the 5-4 lead.

Derek DeYoung retired the side in order in the eighth to remain in line for the win and Dexter Price earned the save with a solid ninth inning to force the rubber match Sunday afternoon.

Will Schierholz was tagged with the loss, his first of the year allowing the one run off two hits and it will be his 2015 teammate Zeb Sneed on the mound Sunday afternoon to try and get the Rascals their first series win since June 16th against Normal.

"It would be huge and give us a lot of momentum going into a big road trip," Gregory said. "All we need to do is come in and play good ball."

First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. at CarShield Field.

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Frontier League Stories from July 17, 2016


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