Oilmen Hang on to Defeat Minutemen Whiting, Ind. - The Northwest Indiana Oilmen exploded for four runs early in Thursday’s game against the MCL Minutemen and were able to weather the storm late in the game to start their homestand off with a victory. After scoring at least one run in each of the first three innings, the Oilmen bats went quiet. Solid pitching from starter Nick Miketinac and relievers Tom Conzemius and Nick Heiden was enough to shut the door on the Minutemen and extend their win streak to four games with a 4-3 victory. “That may not have been his best start, but Nick did a great job of getting out of some situations with runners in scoring position,” Oilmen manager TJ Marik said. “He did a really good job of getting out of some jams and put three innings of zeroes on the board.” Offensively Zamaurion Hatcher and Andrew Petsche led the way, each with three hits. Newcomer Daniel Gutierrez had two runs batted in during his first game with the club. In the third inning, a solo home run from Hatcher proved to be the go-ahead run the oilmen needed. “Z has definitely done a great job early on, he definitely keeps me loose,” Marik said. “But for him to be doing what he’s doing as a high school kid is really impressive.” Heiden escaped the most intense situation of the night when he entered the game with bases loaded in the seventh inning. Heiden was able to get Gabe Cortez to line into a double play to end the inning on one pitch. “Right there you could tell the momentum came back to us because it was on their side for a bit and it changed back after that,” Marik said. The Oilmen will begin a two-game series against the Southland Vikings tomorrow at Oil Ciity Stadium starting a 7:10 p.m. The game will be broadcast on JED TV and AM 1230 WJOB with Brandon Vickrey and Leo Staudacher on the call. |