SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – The Kansas City T-Bones maintained their place at the top of the standings tonight with a 7-5 victory over the Schaumburg Flyers at Alexian Field in Schaumburg, Ill.

Kansas City wasted no time in taking an advantage against Flyers starter Matt Varner as the first batter of the game, Geoff McCallum, hit an inside-the-park home run to left field on the first pitch of the contest.  Left fielder Alfred Joseph slipped in the wet conditions, allowing the ball to roll to the wall.  Joseph would leave the game with an apparent injury.

Rick Rivas (pictured) threw three scoreless innings before the Flyers broke through for two in the fourth, plating runs on RBI singles from Peanut Williams and Mark Haske.  The inning would end when Vince Harrison was caught stealing home with the bases loaded, leaving Schaumburg’s advantage at 2-1.  Rivas left the game after five innings, picking up the victory after allowing three runs on seven hits.

The T-Bones answered in the fifth, getting their first three batters on and in to take a 4-2 lead.  An RBI double from Rob Watson drove in Aharon Eggleston to cap off the frame.

Schaumburg pulled within one in the bottom of the fifth and both teams scored single runs in the sixth before Kansas City finished off their scoring in the seventh with a two-run home run from Jim Fasano, plating Brad Correll who doubled with two outs.  Fasano was the last batter Varner faced as the Flyers right-hander suffered the loss, surrendering seven runs on 10 hits in six and two-thirds innings.

Brady Martinez threw scoreless sixth and seventh innings for Kansas City in relief of Rivas.

Schaumburg loaded the bases off Rick Hummel in the eighth, scoring their final run on an RBI fielder’s choice from Lance Koenig to pull within two, 7-5.  Hummel would end the threat with a foul popout to Dustin Matthews, who entered the game following Joseph’s injury.

David Trahan threw a scoreless ninth to pick up his league-leading fifth save of the season.

The two teams face off again tomorrow night as Anthony Boughner takes the mound for Kansas City against Brian Finch of the Flyers.  First pitch is scheduled for 6:05.

Game Notes:  Rivas has picked up a victory in each of his first two professional starts…Kansas City continues their best start in team history, improving to 11-4 with the victory.  They didn’t pick up their 11th win last season until June 15 at Gary, a span of 27 games.  They are 7-1 on the road so far this season.