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Oilmen Welcome Five Position Players for 2020

03/19/2020 1:33 PM -

Whiting, Ind. – March 19, 2020 – The Northwest Indiana Oilmen announced another batch of additions to its 2020 roster on Thursday as five new position players were unveiled by the club.

Catcher Nick Anderson (Kankakee CC / Highland, Ind.), second baseman Cam Bufford (Grambling State / South Holland, Ill.), corner infielder Michael Machnic (Kankakee CC / Walkerton, Ind.), outfielder Joe Preusser (Lewis / Orland Park, Ill.) and outfielder Tyler Nelson (Indiana State / Valparaiso, Ind.) will all join the Oilmen for the 2020 campaign.

Anderson and Machnic are familiar names to fans of Midwest Collegiate League baseball as they played for the Crestwood Panthers a year ago.

Anderson hit .254 with one home run and 15 RBIs last season, notching nine extra-base hits including a triple and a home run. He saw action in 35 games and scored a team-high 33 runs while reaching base at a .417 clip, earning a 2019 MCL All-Star nod. The Highland High School graduate was a sophomore at Kankakee CC this season, where he was teammates with fellow Oilman Clay Thompson. During his freshman season in 2018, Anderson hit .337 in 54 games while notching 25 stolen bases, 38 doubles, 13 triples and two home runs.

Machnic is also among the group of Oilmen players who were at Kankakee this season. The left-handed hitting sophomore is a graduate of John Glenn High School. After hitting .344 with 67 RBIs, 54 doubles and 17 triples as a freshman at Kankakee, Machnic clubbed .353 in the MCL with Crestwood in 2019. He drove in 19 runs and scored 13 while doubling six times and tripling once over 27 games.

Bufford, a second baseman who played his prep baseball at Marian Catholic, hit a grand slam to help Jackie Robinson West beat New Albany, Ind. 12-7 in the 2014 Great Lakes Regional championship game, advancing to the Little League World Series. Bufford, who was a member of the Chicago White Sox ACE program, is currently a college freshman.

Preusser is a junior at Lewis after playing prep baseball at Brother Rice. He holds a .302 batting average and .457 on-base percentage over the team’s first 11 games of the season and has made 11 starts. He transferred into Lewis after starting his collegiate career in the junior college ranks at South Sub.

Nelson, a current senior at Chesterton High School, will transition to the college game during his summer with the Oilmen before heading to Indiana State. He’ll play for head coach Mitch Hannahs, who led the Sycamores to a 43-win season, a Missouri Valley Conference tournament title and an appearance in the championship game of the NCAA Nashville Regional in 2019.

The Oilmen previously announced nine returning players who will also be a part of Chris Cunningham’s first season at the helm. The team will open the home portion of the slate on June 9 at 7:10 p.m. vs. defending MCL champion Bloomington. Stay tuned for additional schedule and roster information.