The Region's Team Of Northwest Indiana

WEDNESDAY’S GAME:
Northwest Indiana Oilmen (18-9)
at Joliet Generals (4-21) 

Aug. 5, 2020 • 3 p.m. • Midlothian, Ill. • Howie Minas Field
Broadcast: Oilmen Broadcasting Network (Facebook Live)

The Northwest Indiana Oilmen have dropped back-to-back games for the first time all season, but they’ll look to bring the skid to a quick end and dodge a winless road trip on Wednesday at Howie Minas Field. The Generals are 1-12 in their last 13 games, but the victory came over the first-place Hounds and they played a competitive 5-3 game against the Oilmen on July 31.

Pitching Matchup – Northwest Indiana RHP Tommy Windt (South Suburban / Orland Park, Ill.) vs. Joliet LHP Nick Hamilton (Carthage / Munster, Ind.)

Game Notes

• The Oilmen enter the day one game back of DuPage County in the MCL standings. This game is sandwiched around matchups with the Hounds, as the Oilmen fell 5-3 in Aurora on Tuesday but will have a chance at redemption when they welcome the Hounds to Oil City Stadium on Thursday night. The Oilmen will keep a close eye on the game between Crestwood and DuPage County on Wednesday.
• With a winning percentage of .667, the Oilmen have an opportunity to threaten the best winning percentage in franchise history, which was .720 (34-16) during the 2017 campaign. On the flip side, the Generals hold a .160 winning percentage and are attempting to avoid the lowest winning percentage in MCL history, a mark currently held by the 2018 Crestwood Panthers, who went 6-29 (.171).
• Angelo Cantelo saw his 12-game hitting streak come to an end on Tuesday, when he had to exit the game early after being hit by a pitch in the seventh. The Oilmen mustered up just three hits, highlighted by a two-run, game-tying single by Tre’ Hondras in the seventh.
• The Oilmen are 4-1 against the Generals this season with two meetings remaining, including Wednesday’s contest. That gives NWI a 43-16 all-time edge in games against Joliet.
• RHP Tommy Windt will make his sixth appearance and second start. He has a 2.00 ERA over 18 innings with an 0-1 record, two saves, 10 walks and 18 strikeouts. This will be his fourth appearance against Joliet with three runs (two earned) on five hits permitted over 11 1/3 innings against the Generals this season.
• Joliet’s Nick Hamilton has a 4.10 ERA and 1-2 record over 26 1/3 innings while issuing 18 walks and striking out 23. He will face the Oilmen for the first time this season. 

Season Notes

• The 2020 Oilmen roster features representatives from numerous Division-I institutions including the following conferences: Big 10, American, Ohio Valley Conference, Missouri Valley Conference, Horizon League, Mid-American Conference, Summit League and the ACC.
• The Big Ten is well represented on this year’s roster, with players from five different conference members on the squad – Indiana, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan and Iowa.
• This marks the Oilmen’s first season under the direction of Chris Cunningham, who is the fourth manager in team history. Cunningham is no stranger to the MCL, as the former professional ballplayer in the Tampa Bay Rays organization managed the Southland Vikings from 2011-2014. In his final two seasons, the Vikings won back-to-back MCL championships.
• Oilmen legend Matt Pobereyko is serving as the team’s pitching coach this season. He racked up an MCL-record 18 career saves in 2013 and 2014 including a single-season MCL record 13 in his final campaign with the Oilmen. Pobereyko is an active professional pitcher and has reached as high as Triple-A.
• As usual, the Oilmen are loaded with local talent. Three Oilmen players graduated from Andrean High School, one from Highland, three from Griffith, one from Valparaiso, two from Munster and two from Lake Central. Expanding to Illinois high schools, two Oilmen competed at Brother Rice, one at Oak Forest, one at Marist, one at Marian Catholic, three at Homewood-Flossmoor, one at Carl Sandburg, one at St. Rita and one at St. Laurence.