The Region's Team Of Northwest Indiana

The most meaningful games of the season begin on Tuesday afternoon as the Northwest Indiana Oilmen start postseason action. The Southland Vikings will play host to Game 1 of a best-of-three MCL Semifinal Series before the series shifts to Oil City Stadium on Wednesday night.

Game Notes

• The Oilmen finished the regular season by winning four of their final five games. They enjoyed the team’s eighth consecutive winning season and eighth straight playoff berth.
• This first-round series pits the only two teams who own three MCL Championships against one another. These squads have combined for six of the last eight league titles with the Oilmen winning in 2012, 2016 and 2018 and the Vikings winning in 2013, 2014 and 2017. The two teams have met in postseason series on two prior occasions, with the Oilmen sweeping both games of the MCL Semifinal Series last year. The Vikings topped the Oilmen in two games in the 2013 MCL Championship Series, the only other playoff set between the two teams.
• The Oilmen will send left-handed pitcher Jordan Petty to the mound for Game 1 of the series. The southpaw has logged 25 2/3 innings and posted a 4.91 ERA while walking 18 and striking out 31. He stands at 2-1 in six games, five starts. In 2016, Petty was the starter for the game where the Oilmen clinched the MCL Semifinal Series and the MCL Championship Series.
• Southland will go with left-handed pitcher Jake Rupert for the series opener. Rupert has pitched 47 1/3 innings and allowed 15 earned runs this summer for an ERA of 2.85. He is 2-0 in nine games, six starts and has issued 11 walks against 46 strikeouts.
• This series features the two players who tied for the MCL lead in RBIs as Jackson Dvorak and Jake Schroeder each had 37. Dvorak tied one of the longest-standing Oilmen records as he matched Nick Bartolone’s franchise RBI record of 37 that had stood since 2013.
• Also worth noting in the record book, Ben Berenda (31) was four walks away from tying Chris Baker’s record and Jonny Vesevick (53) was two strikeouts away from tying Enrique Zamora’s mark. Only record season stats count toward Oilmen records.