The Region's Team Of Northwest Indiana

Hammond Ind.- Another early inning burst from the offense helped the Northwest Indiana Oilmen on their way to a 7-1 victory over the Crestwood Panthers.

The Oilmen offense struck first in the second inning when Nick Anderson and Kyle Czarnecki (Minooka/Kankakee CC) crossed the plate after a Crestwood throwing error. The team would tack on two more runs off a single from David Marshall (Downers Grove/ College of Dupage) and a Charlie Szykowny (Palos Heights/ UW Stout) triple in the third inning. After a stretch of innings without runs the team would capitalize off of some errors in the field and plate three more runs in the top of the ninth inning. 

“You always want to extend the lead past one swing of the bat or the point where the opponent can get back in the game in the blink of an eye.” Manager Adam Enright said. “Extending that lead with a lot of hits and runs really took the pressure off of us.”

It was a group effort on the mound as Cameron Nohos (Hobart/ Loras) started the evening and recorded three strikeouts. Justin Johnson (Cedar Lake/Marian) chipped in two innings of relief striking out four and escaping a bases loaded jam in the fifth. Matt Ostrowski (Lockport/Trinity Christian) provided two scoreless innings while Adam Herron (Joliet/Trinity Christian) and Silas Noe (Wilmette/Waubonsee CC) each provided a solo inning to round out the game. In addition to the jam Johnson evaded, the pitching staff was able to work their way out of several situations with runners on base.

“Our pitchers did a good job of throwing to bigger parts of the plate when they got into situations where we couldn’t afford a walk or had to get ahead in the count and make adjustments in the middle of the inning to get positive results.” Enright said. 

The Oilmen will look to add another win when they travel to Dowling Park to take on the Southland Vikings on Wednesday at 5:00 P.M. The game will be broadcast on Facebook and Region Sports Net.