Derek Salata was dominant, tossing a complete game shutout to lead the Schaumburg Boomers to a 9-0 win over the Gateway Grizzlies at Wintrust Field on Wednesday night and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Salata opened the game with a 1-2-3 inning to set the tone, the first of four such frames in the game. Gateway created an opportunity in the top of the third placing runners at second and third with one away but Salata utilized a shallow flyout and a groundball to escape the threat, the lone real chance Gateway created against him. Schaumburg had just one baserunner through the first three innings and did not record a hit but plated six runs against three different pitchers in the fourth on seven hits to break away. Frontier League MVP Anthony Calarco opened the scoring with a two-run double, the third of five consecutive hits to open the inning. Aaron Simmons made it 3-0 with an opposite field RBI single to left. Alec Craig recorded a two-run single that made the score 5-0 and Christian Fedko finished off the rally with the seventh hit, his second of the inning, a single to score Kyle Fitzgerald.
Salata did not allow another runner to reach scoring position after the third inning until the top of the ninth. The righty ran through a stretch of 10 straight retired while the Boomers continued to tack on runs, scoring a single run in the fifth, sixth and seventh. Salata punctuated the shutout by striking out the side in the ninth, finishing the game with 11 strikeouts while allowing just six hits, four of which were singles. Salata recorded a first pitch strike to 23 batters and finished with over 120 pitches while inducing 11 groundouts in his first career postseason outing.
All nine members of the lineup reached base in the win as the team finished with 15 hits. Fedko and Anthony Calarco both notched three hits. Craig, Simmons and Banks Tolley contributed two apiece. Craig and Alex Calarco both drove home a pair while Anthony Calarco, who set a league record with 116 RBIs in the regular season, plated three to up his postseason total to eight.