Oilmen Rebound in Victory Against Admirals Whiting, Ind. - After suffering the worst loss in team history, a 19-1 defeat at the hands of the Bloomington Bobcats, the Northwest Indiana Oilmen looked to get back on track against the Joliet Admirals at Oil City Stadium and NWI did just that. The Oilmen (10-7) defeated the Admirals (2-11), 5-4, at Oil City Stadium on Friday. Pitching for the Oilmen was young southpaw Joe Graziano. Graziano who threw two perfect games this past season at Lake Central High School proved to have no trouble facing college level hitters. In five innings of work Graziano struck out eight Admirals and did not give up a single run. Following a great start, right-hander Rory Gard threw two innings of scoreless baseball. Caleb Mathews was the only Oilmen hurler that surrendered a run. Matthews gave up four runs (only one was earned), but got the final out of the ball game after the Admirals put up fight, stranding the tying and winning runs on third and second, but the Oilmen ultimately squeaked out the 5-4 win. Northwest Indiana’s defense was the only low point for the club, committing four errors. Manager Adam Enright had nothing but praise for his pitchers after a rough day in the field, “I didn’t want to be blinded by the win, we played really poor defense on the infield today,” Enright said. “There were some positives but when we play bad infield defense, that is so hard to overcome. Luckily our pitchers were outstanding today…Caleb Mathews was fine. He gave up some hits but those hits really don’t matter when you don’t catch the ball, hats off to our pitchers today.” On the offensive side of the ball, Tyler Sroczynski continued to swing a hot bat. The Oilmen center fielder had three hits, including two doubles, one of which drove in two of the Oilmen’s five runs. Enright was proud of Sroczynski’s ability to hit with runners in scoring position. “Today was a really good day, he had the double with the bases loaded which has always been his Achilles (heel),” Enright said. ”(with) Runners in scoring position he used to struggle. It was really nice to see him figure his swing out a little bit.” The next game for the Oilmen is Saturday at home against the Southland Vikings with game time scheduled at 6:30 p.m. To see the box score from today's game, click on "Download Attachment". |