The Region's Team Of Northwest Indiana

Whiting, Ind. – July 31, 2020 – The Northwest Indiana Oilmen and Joliet Generals exchanged single tallies for the first three innings, but the visitors’ run column featured nothing but goose eggs from that point forward on Friday night at Oil City Stadium.

The Oilmen snapped a 3-3 tie with a fourth-inning tally, then tacked on one in the eighth before finalizing a 5-3 victory over the Generals.

The most significant individual performance of the day came from Tommy Windt (South Suburban / Orland Park, Ill.), who allowed just one hit over four shutout innings of relief to nail down his second save.

“Tommy had his good stuff going tonight,” Oilmen manager Chris Cunningham said. “He had that really sharp breaking ball. He had both his fastball and breaking ball going, which was good to see. Tommy has been good for us this season, and when he’s really snapping off the breaking ball and throwing that heavy sinker, it’s big time.”

Mike Madura (Purdue Fort Wayne / Munster, Ind.) became the first Midwest Collegiate League pitcher to notch his fourth victory of the season, putting together a 99-pitch outing that saw him permit three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks in five frames. Madura has a combined 7-0 record in his two summers with the Oilmen.

“Mike didn’t necessarily have his best stuff today, but he’s always going to give you quality innings,” Cunningham said. “He threw his five innings and he’s going to come out in five days and do it again. He’s always around the zone with his pitches.”

Angelo Cantelo (Lewis / Blue Island, Ill.), Tre’ Hondras (Michigan / Flossmoor, Ill.) and Michael Machnic (Kankakee CC / Walkerton, Ind.) had two hits apiece for the Oilmen. Hondras reached base five times, while Cantelo had two-out doubles in both the first and third innings and came around to score in both instances.

“Angelo has been steady swinging the bat well for us all year,” Cunningham said. “Mike Machnic played some great defense tonight. It was a good team win. We had some big hits, and we managed to find a way to win, so that was good to see. Hopefully we can keep it going.”

The victory allowed the Oilmen (17-7) to move to 10 games above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2017 season. It also matched a season-long four-game winning streak and kept the team atop the Midwest Collegiate League standings with a ½ game edge over second-place DuPage County.

The Oilmen will seek a fifth straight triumph on Saturday night as the MCL Minutemen make their way to Oil City Stadium for a 6:10 p.m. first pitch. Tickets are available on NWIOilmen.com, and those who cannot attend can watch on the Oilmen Broadcast Network, which is available via Facebook Live, with Brandon Vickrey and Andrew Fish on the call.