Flyers rally, come up short in finale
September 4, 2005 - Northern League (NL)
Schaumburg Flyers News Release
SCHAUMBURG, IL - The Schaumburg Flyers scored five two-out runs in the bottom of the ninth but St. Paul held on for an 8-7 win on Sunday afternoon at Alexian Field. The Flyers finish the season 22-26 in the second half and 38-58 overall. The Saints finish at 27-21 in the second half and 55-40 overall.
Saints closer Matt Hammons entered the game with two outs and two on in the bottom of the ninth. Eric Cole greeted him with a three-run homer over the bleachers in left field to make the score 8-7. Hammons then got Chris Weekly to ground out and earned his league-leading 25th save. Chris Andel started the inning for St. Paul and recorded two quick outs. The next two batters reached for the Flyers and Oscar Materano delivered a two-run single to right field that brought Schaumburg within four.
St. Paul got out to an early lead against Flyers starter Nigel Thatch (0-3). Josh Renick scored in the first on a Billy Munoz sacrifice fly and St. Paul added an unearned run in the second without the benefit of a hit. The Saints extended their lead to 8-0 with six runs in the third off Thatch. A two-out error by Materano made five of the runs unearned. John Hummel relieved Thatch with two down in the inning. The Schaumburg High School product allowed just one hit in 3.1 scoreless innings of relief.
Weekly put the Flyers on the board in the fourth with a sacrifice fly to left off of Saints starter Luis Villarreal (9-7). Materano had a two-out RBI single in the fifth to make it 8-2. Schaumburg had just one more hit until the ninth inning.
R.J. Swindle tossed two scoreless innings and Blake Cross pitched a scoreless ninth to keep Schaumburg in the game. Cole led the Flyers with a 3-for-5, three RBI performance. Materano and Eli Albertson had two hits apiece.
St. Paul opens the playoffs at home on Tuesday against Gary. The RailCats clinched the South Division second half title with a win over Joliet on Sunday. Schaumburg will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
Northern League Stories from September 4, 2005
- Two in eighth put T-Bones away for winter, 6-5 - Kansas City Monarchs
- Flyers rally, come up short in finale - Schaumburg Flyers
- Saltdogs finish the 2005 regular season with a 5-4 loss to the Explorers - Lincoln Saltdogs
- Railcats finish season as second half co-champions of the Northern League - Gary SouthShore Railcats
- Fisher shuts out Joliet again with some help, 2-0 - Joliet JackHammers
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
