Flyers stage late rally, fall short
June 21, 2005 - Northern League (NL)
Schaumburg Flyers News Release
SCHAUMBURG, IL - The Schaumburg Flyer offense was kept quiet once again against strong opposing pitching in a 2-1 defeat on Tuesday night to the St. Paul Saints. Saint starter David Shepard (2-2) pitched shutout ball through eight innings, giving up just three hits. Shepard got out of an early jam in the third and did not allow a Flyer to touch third base for the rest of his time on the mound. A crowd of 6,310 fans, the second most this season, looked on at Alexian Field. St. Paul moved a half game ahead of Kansas City in the South Division's first half race as the T-Bones lost at Sioux Falls. The Saints are 18-12 while Schaumburg fell to 10-21 with their third straight loss.
Flyer hurler Raymond Jenkins (1-3) did not fare much worse in his first start against St. Paul. In six innings of work, he let up two runs, one unearned, and scattered seven hits.
The Saints struck first in the top of the fourth inning as DH Nick Gretz drew a one-out walk off Jenkins and advanced to second on a passed ball charged to rookie catcher Ryan Walker. Walker was making his professional debut on Tuesday, subbing for a banged up Tim Marks. One out later, Mike Forbes cashed in on an RBI double, giving the Saints a 1-0 advantage on the unearned run.
In the sixth, St. Paul C Jeremy Frost tacked on another tally with an RBI ground out to third. 3B Chris Weekly might have had a play at the plate on the grounder but elected to make the safe throw to first to get the certain out. The run was the first earned run of the game, and it extended the Saints' lead to 2-0 as T. Brown crossed the plate.
Newly acquired reliever Grant Dorn came on in the seventh inning and retired nine straight batters in order to keep the Saints well within striking distance.
Coming off some ninth inning heroics in the last series with Gary, the Flyers looked to rally once again in the pivotal bottom frame. 1B Josue Lopez (1-for-2, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP) drew a one-out base on balls and put the tying run at the plate. Saint closer Matt Hammons (4 SV), who started the inning in a save situation, got Justin Hendrickson to strike out swinging and brought the Flyers to their final out. Chris Weekly (1-for-4, RBI) doubled deep to left field, scoring Lopez easily from first and putting the tying run in scoring position. Tim Marks pinch-hit for Walker to face his former team in the crucial at-bat, but Hammons induced a groundout to second to end the threat and the game.
Matt Bailie (4-0, 1.03) will take on Bryan Gaal (5-1, 5.31) in Wednesday's game, a rematch of the May 20 game in which the two starters faced each other earlier this year. In that first meeting at St. Paul, Bailie allowed only one earned run en route to a 6-4 victory to open the 2005 season. Good seats are still available for the 7:05 game at flyersbaseball.com or (847) 891-2255.
Notes: Including Tuesday night's loss, the Flyers are now 1-6 in games decided by one run... When Flyer opponents are the first to get on the scoreboard, Schaumburg is 2-13...Weekly's ninth inning double was the only extra-base hit of the night for Schaumburg...
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