The Region's Team Of Northwest Indiana

Whiting, Ind. – June 10, 2015 – Over the course of a 25-game home schedule, fans are bound to see a little bit of everything at Oil City Stadium.

This year, they didn’t have to wait long as the Oilmen and Admirals provided a little bit of everything on opening night.

It started with players dragging the tarp onto the field with rain pouring down during batting practice. It ended with the Oilmen stranding the potential tying run at third and the go-ahead tally at second in the 10^th inning of a 7-6 defeat.

In between, it was an unforgettable and entertaining opening night of Oilmen baseball. The Oilmen were down to their final out, chasing 6-3 in the bottom of the ninth, when they mounted a three-run rally to send it to extras.

Brian Seymour’s two-run single pulled the Oilmen within a run as Zack Jones and Jeremy Wright motored home. Then, Xavier Warren grounded one that seemed ticketed for right field. Second baseman Danny Kelly made a sliding stop to take a hit away from Warren, only to make an off-line throw to first that pulled Anthony Bragg off the bag. The throwing error allowed Tyler Sroczynski to score the tying run.

The Oilmen erased a five-run deficit to tie it at six.

“You saw guys string together a bunch of good at-bats late in the game,” Oilmen manager Adam Enright said. “We have guys who want to win, who are going to piece it together, even if the beginning of the game didn’t go so well. In the summer time, that’s what you want. I know it’s going to be an exciting summer because of the way guys react to these situations.”

The Admirals regained the lead in the 10^th after stringing together three straight hits against Sam Bell, who was finally removed after 4 2/3 innings of quality relief. Bell (1-1) suffered the tough-luck defeat, despite yielding just one run on five hits.

“He was outstanding,” Enright said. “Not only did he save us for the rest of the week, but he showed us that he’s going to be a guy that can throw four or five innings in the middle of a game.”

It appeared momentarily that the game was tied again when Jordan Lewis launched a deep drive to right field to lead off the bottom of the 10^th. However, Lewis came up just shy of his third home run as the ball hit off the fence. He did not leave the box immediately after hitting the ball and settled for a long single. The Oilmen had the based loaded with one out when a line-drive double play ended the game.

Tyler Paulsen, who was on the mound when the tying run scored in the ninth, ended up chalking up the win in relief in his first outing of the summer. Oilmen starter Brian Jestice lasted only three innings, surrendering five runs on six hits. Three of the runs were unearned as the Oilmen committed two costly errors. In addition, a routine fly ball was lost in the lights for a bloop double.

Jones, Wright and Brad Wood each drove in runs as part of a three-run fourth to get the Oilmen back in the game after a slow start. The game started 1 hour, 20 minutes late due to rain.

“After sitting around for a while, you could tell early that we weren’t glued into the game,” Enright said. “As it got down to crunch time in the last three innings, guys started to turn it on and really focused in.”

Jones, Wright and Seymour had two hits each.

The Oilmen continue the homestand by welcoming the DuPage County Hounds on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. in a battle of the top two teams in the Midwest Collegiate League standings.