Baseball: ThunderBolts top Boomers 2-1 in 15 innings
By Steve Millar For Sun-Times Media May 22, 2012 8:28PM
Updated: July 2, 2012 9:31AM
Like all the Windy City ThunderBolts hitters, Bryan Burke struggled most of the day Tuesday.
Coming to the plate in the 15th inning, though, Burke knew it would take just one good swing for the T-Bolts to escape with a win.
After being retired in each of his previous six at-bats, Burke came through. His one-out single drove in Bruce Alter with the winning run as Windy City topped the Schaumburg Boomers 2-1 at Standard Bank Stadium in Crestwood.
“I got a fastball and I was just trying to put something into the outfield so we could get out of here,” Burke said. “I really didn’t want to go back into the dugout. I had been putting the bat on the ball and just not finding a hole, so I knew I just had to stay with it.”
In his fourth inning of relief out of the Schaumburg bullpen, Joe Parsons walked Alter to start the rally. After a Travis Weaver sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch moved Alter to third, Burke won it for the T-Bolts (3-1) after 4 hours, 34 minutes.
Shane Zegarac (1-0), the ninth pitcher used by Windy City, worked a scoreless top of the 15th for the win.
Chad Mozingo led off the game with a double and scored to give Schaumburg (3-1) a quick lead. Chad Cregar answered with a solo home run in the second, and neither team scored over the next 12 innings.
The T-Bolts left the bases loaded in the 12th and Schaumburg did the same in the 13th.
Windy City starter Stephen Sauer allowed just one run on four hits despite walking six through 61/3 innings as his defense turned three double plays behind him.
The T-Bolts bullpen combined for 82/3 scoreless innings, with Andy Mee tossing two.
The game was the first-ever between Windy City and the expansion Boomers, and also marked the return of former T-Bolts manager Mike Kashirsky, who is the Schaumburg bench coach.
“This gives us some momentum to ride with,” Burke said. “It was a long day and it was nice to end it with a win.”
