Ed Almonte (4-4) threw eight strong innings for the Schaumburg Flyers (22-22) this afternoon as they earned a series victory over the Kansas City T-Bones (22-23) with a 6-3 win this afternoon at Alexian Field.

Travis Ezi started the first inning for Schaumburg with a triple off Justin James (3-5) and scored on a single by the next hitter, Jose Valdez.  Valdez later came home on a fielder’s choice groundout by Felix Jose to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead after one.

Jacob Blackwood drew a one-out walk against Almonte in the third, advanced to third on a single by Damian Rolls and scored the first T-Bones run on a wild pitch.  The Flyers answered quickly, scoring twice in the bottom of the frame to take a 4-2 lead.  Victor Ferrante drove in the first run with an RBI triple before scoring on a double by the next batter, Craig Maddox.

After Jim Fasano added another run for the T-Bones with an RBI double in the fourth, Valdez responded with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to keep Schaumburg’s lead at three, 5-2.

James allowed one more run on a solo home run by Vince Harrison with one out in the seventh.  The right-hander suffered the loss after allowing six runs on 10 hits over six and two-thirds innings.  Payton Tweddale relieved James and allowed one hit over the final one and one-thirds scoreless innings for the T-Bones.

Almonte retired the final 10 batters he faced to close out his eight innings of work, earning the victory after allowing two runs on five hits on the afternoon.

Outfielder Jeff Dunbar took over for Almonte in the ninth and surrendered the final T-Bones run on a solo shot by Ryan Fox, his league-leading 16th of the season.

All six Northern League teams will now take a three-day hiatus to enjoy the 2009 All-Star Break.  This year’s contest will be held in Joliet, Illinois on Tuesday, July 7 with first pitch for the 2009 Northern League All-Star Game set for 7:05.  To listen to the game live on Tuesday, visit www.northernleague.com  Kansas City returns home on Thursday, July 9 for a four-game set with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.