The Region's Team Of Northwest Indiana

Chicago Heights, Ill. – June 4, 2016 – Oilmen manager Adam Enright said he didn’t believe in bad luck or the “baseball gods” after Friday’s loss to Bloomington.

The skipper may want to reconsider his stance after Saturday’s ill-timed rainstorm prevented the Oilmen from closing out a victory against Southland. The Oilmen held a 12-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning and were just three outs away from making it an official game. That’s when a light rained turned into a downpour and prevented any further baseball at Hap Bruno Field.

The game will be resumed where it left off at a later date. The result and statistics from the game will be counted, but not until after the game is completed. When the game is resumed, it will be a seven-inning game and will be followed by a regularly scheduled nine-inning affair. There is a strong possibility the game will be finished at Oil City Stadium prior to a game against the Vikings on the upcoming homestand, but the teams have not yet officially announced the makeup date.

Brad Bohlen (Northern Kentucky / Chicago Heights, Ill.) ripped a two-run double in the top of the first. The scoring was bookended by Bohlen doubles, as the Oilman second baseman doubled in the fifth to expand the lead to 11 immediately before play was halted.

The Oilmen made every effort to get through the fifth inning before the rain was deemed too heavy to continue. Chase Fieldhouse even laid down a bunt to intentionally make an out to speed up the top of the fifth, but heavy rain poured from the sky during Josh Fewell’s two-out plate appearance.

The Oilmen scored in the second to extend their lead to 3-1 as Jimmy Govern (Eastern Illinois / Libertyville, Ill.) singled to plate Tyler Sroczynski. Govern, who entered the day as the team-leader with seven RBIs, has two more RBIs in the contest. Sroczynski (Trinity Christian / Dyer, Ind.) is 3-for-4 in the game with three runs scored, two doubles and a triple. Stefano Belmonte (Florida Gulf Coast / Munster, Ind.) is 3-for-3 and has reached base four times.

The Oilmen scored five times in the fourth, including a tape-measure blast by Fewell (Heartland / Kokomo, Ind.) over the right-field fence, his first home run of the summer. They tacked on four in the fifth before the game was suspended.

Not to be overshadowed by the offensive outburst was Oilmen starting pitcher Sam Geraci (Parkland / Illinois Springfield / Steger, Ill.), who cruised through four innings, yielding just one run on two hits and no walks while striking out four.

The Oilmen (1-6) will travel to Joliet to battle the Admirals on Sunday at 1 p.m. Pregame coverage begins at 12:40 p.m. on NWIOilmen.com.