SCHAUMBURG, IL. 7-18-2010 – For the second straight day the Gary SouthShore RailCats did not score after the first inning, but for the second straight day the RailCats picked up a win, downing the Schaumburg Flyers 5-4 Sunday afternoon at Alexian Field to take two of three in the series.

One day after snapping an eight-game losing streak, the RailCats won a series for the first time since June 21-23 in Winnipeg and posted back-to-back victories for the first time since July 2-3.  The RailCats sent nine men to the plate in the first inning, scoring five times on six hits including four extra-base hits, but the ‘Cats totaled just eight hits in the game and were held without a base hit after the fifth inning.

For the second game in a row, Adam Klein led off the first with a triple after he drove a 3-2 pitch from Dustin Glant (4-3) to the wall in straightaway center.  Klein scored one batter later on a Jay Pecci sacrifice fly in Pecci’s game since June 28 – the shortstop was activated from the disabled list before the game.  With the bases clear and one out, Mike Massaro extended his hitting streak to nine games with a line drive single and got to walk home one batter later when Cristian Guerrero smoked a line drive home run just to the left of straightaway center, his team-leading ninth home run of the year.

Up 3-0 the RailCats still were not satisfied, with Tanner Townsend doubling and scoring on a Mike Rohde base hit and Zach Rodeghero coming around with the fifth run on Mike Valadez’s first RailCats double.  The RailCats four first inning extra-base hits matched their total in the first two games of the series.

Glant would recover to go five innings but the Flyers never could quite recover from the big first inning.  Schaumburg scored single runs in the first and fourth innings against starter Brad Halsey (3-4), who went six innings allowing two earned runs on five hits.  The Flyers added an unearned run in the eighth and made things interesting the ninth, scoring once and putting the tying and winning runs on base before Andy Shipman got Brandon Newton to ground out to end the game.  Shipman’s save was his league-leading 13^th of the year and broke the franchise’s career saves record (26), held previously by Tony Cogan.

The Flyers out-hit the RailCats 10-8, with Newton, Josh Burrus, Richard Mercado and Ruddy Yan each recording two-hit games.  Massaro went 2-for-5 and Rohde was 2-for-3 with a walk to pace the RailCats.

The RailCats (25-27) take their show up north to start a four-game series with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (31-18) beginning Monday night at 7:02 p.m. at Newman Outdoor Field.  In a matchup of All-Stars, the RailCats will send Willie Glen (4-2, 3.32 ERA) to the mound opposite Fargo right-hander Matt Mossey (3-1, 2.82 ERA).  The game will be broadcast live on 89.1 FM, The Lakeshore, and online at www.railcatsbaseball.com.

Notes: The RailCats and Flyers have played eight times in 2010 – all in Schaumburg – and have split the games thanks to Sunday’s RailCats win … the two teams will not meet again at Alexian Field this year … RailCats third baseman Jeff Beachum was knocked out of the game in the eighth inning when he was struck by a Yan ground ball that took a bad hop and hit a prone Beachum in the head.  Beachum was able to walk off the field under his own power.