Schaumburg Boomers falter in the ninth inning, lose to Ottawa

The Schaumburg Boomers rallied from an early deficit to lead entering the ninth, but the Ottawa Titans scored three runs to grab a 5-3 victory in the middle game between the teams at Wintrust Field before 7,296 on Wednesday night.

Ottawa scored single runs in each of the first two innings to open a 2-0 lead. The visitors took the lead two batters into the game on an RBI double from Jackie Urbaez. The lead held until the bottom of the sixth.

Aaron Simmons sent his sixth homer of the year over the wall in right to even the score. Ty Crittenberger tripled in the seventh and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly from Chase Dawson. Jake Guenther stroked a two-run single to give Ottawa the lead in the ninth and pinch-hitter Aaron Casillas added an RBI single to cap the scoring.

Jacob Smith threw a career-high six innings and struck out a career-best 10, posting the third double-digit strikeout performance of the season for the Boomers. The pitching staff struck out 14 in the loss.

Jake Joyce struck out the side in the eighth to leave the tying run at second. Joyce was making his 280th appearance to tie the Frontier League’s record for appearances. The offense managed just five hits in the contest but drew six walks.

Five individuals tallied hits. Alec Craig walked twice to add to his league-best total.