The Lake Erie Crushers had 11 hits against Schaumburg.
However, the Boomers’ late comeback resulted in the Crushers losing their home opener, 5-4, on May 8.
“I thought we competed really well,” Crushers manager Jared Lemieux said. “It was a well-fought ball game against a really good ball club. They got to us in the end, but I thought we played really well.”
Crushers ninth hitter Luis Acevedo drove in all of their four runs.
His shining moment was a three-run home run in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead.
“It was opening night and the juices were flowing,” he said. “Honestly, I was trying to look for something simple and drive some runs in. Thank God I had a big swing and I was able to (hit it). It sucks that we lost, but we will get back at it tomorrow.”
Acevedo drove in another run with a double in the bottom of the ninth.
“I was really impressed with Luis (Acevedo),” Lemieux said. “He is a great kid and he works really hard and he deserves to have a night like that.”
Schaumburg went on to retire the next three batters, as Acevedo was one of seven Crushers left on base.
“I liked the way we swung it,” Lemieux said. “We took some pretty competitive at-bats. We stranded some runners, but that is baseball.”
Their lead began to unravel in the seventh inning.
The first cracks were shown with a one-run single from Schaumburg’s Alec Craig.
The team’s opening run ended Andres Parra’s shutout after he pitched the first five innings.
Schaumburg (1-0) left fielder Cole Turney hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to take a 4-3 lead.
“(Schaumburg) caught up to the heater with (Randy) Beriguete,” Lemieux said. “They are a good ball club and they adjust, just like you saw tonight.”
The home run was followed with another run in the ninth.
The Crushers dropped to 0-1, and they will play their second game of a three-game series against Schaumburg on May 9.