The Region's Team Of Northwest Indiana

Chicago Heights, Ill. – June 13, 2018 – Oilmen pitchers in need of rebound performances got the job done on Wednesday evening at Hap Bruno Field.

On a day where every Oilmen pitcher looked sharp, wobbly defense and a dearth of offense hurt Northwest Indiana, as Southland picked up a 6-0 win behind a complete-game shutout by John Hendry.

The Oilmen (4-8) committed four errors while mustering up only five hits.

“It didn’t matter who we pitched out there today because we made errors in the infield and outfield,” Oilmen manager Adam Enright said. “If both of those aren’t there on a given day, it makes it tough for the pitchers, because they can’t strike everybody out.”

Starting pitcher Sawyer Allen (Hillsdale College / Fair Oaks, Ind.) took the loss to fall to 0-3 after scattering six hits over 3 1/3 innings. He did not issue any walks, and two of the four runs he yielded were unearned.

After having allowed eight earned runs in only 1 1/3 innings entering the game, Nick Wolf (McHenry County / Valparaiso, Ind.) went two innings and gave up just one hit and two walks. However, he allowed two runs, both unearned, as the Oilmen made two errors in the seventh inning.

Perhaps the biggest positive story of the day for the Oilmen was Bobby Nowak (Kankakee CC / Cedar Lake, Ind.), who allowed just one hit and two walks over 2 1/3 scoreless innings after a rocky Oilmen debut in which he was charged with seven runs (six earned) in just 1/3 of an inning at Joliet.

“I was very impressed with our pitchers today,” Enright said. “Sawyer Allen did very well. We misplayed two fly balls in his inning where we ended up giving up four. Bobby Nowak bounced back from a poor outing at Joliet and did very well stopping the bleeding after we gave them the four spot with a couple zeros after that. Nick Wolf was outstanding. The shining part of today was that all three of those guys did very well. They showed signs that they are guys we can count on to throw up zeros late in games. I’m very encouraged by that.”  

Hendry (2-0) helped the Vikings improve to 7-3 by holding the Oilmen to five hits and one walk in the game. He did not allow multiple baserunners in any one inning.

“Hits beget hits,” Enright said. “We had a couple of decently hard-hit balls late in the game. We had a few hard hit balls that were caught. It comes down to at-bats where we’ve got to do more with good pitches. It wasn’t a matter of pitch selection, they were swinging; it was just a matter of getting the bat on the ball. We didn’t have a whole lot of loud outs in the first five or six innings. We were making too much early, soft contact and going 1-2-3. That set up the pace and the feel of the day offensively.”

The Oilmen will face a quick turnaround as they attempt to bounce back against Joliet on Thursday at 11 a.m. CT. It’s Kids Day at Oil City Stadium as $7 tickets including a meal are available and can be purchased on NWIOilmen.com.

To view the box score from the game, click here.