Oilmen Bats Quiet in Road Loss to Southland Flossmoor, Ill. – July 6, 2013 – The Northwest Indiana Oilmen suffered a 4-2 defeat to the Southland Vikings on Saturday night at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. The game took just two hours and eight minutes to complete. The Vikings jumped on the board with two unearned runs against starting pitcher Brett Schneider in the bottom of the first. The Oilmen plated a run in the third as Leiff Clarkson singled home Anthony Bova. Bova swiped both second and third after singling to reach base. The score held stagnant until Jeff Boehm ripped a two-run homer in the fifth to bolster the Viking lead to three. Nick Bartolone singled and eventually came around to score in the sixth to cut the lead to two, but that was as close as Northwest Indiana would get. Schneider was hit with the tough-luck loss, as two of the four runs he allowed in his five innings of work were unearned. Mike Hanchar, Joe Cochran and Scott Jerge each twirled scoreless frames in relief. Clarkson led the Oilmen offense with two hits in four at-bats, while he and Gerrad Rohan accounted for the team’s two runs batted in. Evan Nietfeldt tossed six innings of two-run, five-hit baseball to pick up the victory. After Bartolone’s single to lead-off the sixth, the Southland pitching staff sent down 12 straight Oilmen batters to conclude the game. The Oilmen now stand at 15-7 overall, 10-6 in MCL play. The season series between Northwest Indiana and Southland is now even at two victories apiece as the two teams prepare to meet four times in a six day period beginning on Thursday, July 11 at 7:10 in Whiting. Leading up to that game, the Oilmen have a four-day hiatus from Midwest Collegiate League play that includes a non-league home game against Michigan City at 4 p.m. on Sunday, the Midwest Collegiate League All-Star game on Tuesday night at 7:30 at Oil City Stadium and off days Monday and Wednesday. |