The Region's Team Of Northwest Indiana

Whiting, Ind. – June 27, 2018 – The Oilmen bats that had been so hot over the club’s recent record-setting winning streak fell silent on Wednesday night against the Bloomington Bobcats in an 8-0 loss.

Bloomington starter Zach Frey was impressive in his outing, surrendering no runs and just three hits over six and one-third innings pitched. Frey’s slider seemed to have Oilmen hitters guessing all night.

“He was mixing in his off-speed very well especially early in the game,” Oilmen assistant coach Matt Vitulli said. “Our guys got to some good fastball counts and he would throw his off-speed to keep us off-balance. Credit to him, he pitched a great game. We just didn’t make any adjustments throughout.”

Brock Immke shut the door on the Oilmen over the final two and two-thirds innings. The right-hander allowed only one hit and struck out four in his relief performance.

Unfortunately for the Oilmen, their pitching staff was not nearly as effective as that of their opponents on Wednesday evening. Though Bobby Nowak (Kankakee CC / Cedar Lake, Ind.) allowed two runs on a mere three hits, the starter labored, handing out seven walks over his four innings of work.

“He’s been getting into high pitch counts to most of the hitters he’s faced since he’s been with us. Other than that, I think he pitched pretty well despite the walks. I mean they weren’t really hitting the ball off of him. It was more defensive errors and walks that got him,” Vitulli said.

The most pivotal defensive error came in the fifth inning with Sawyer Allen (Hillsdale College / Fair Oaks, Ind.) on the bump in his only inning of work. With one out, a throwing error by CJ Deshazer (Heartland CC / Schaumburg, Ill.) on a routine groundball gave Bloomington life. The Bobcats would come around to touch Allen for three runs in that frame, only one of which was earned.

The final three runs of the contest were given up by George Sherman (Dominican / Skokie, Ill.). Bobcat hitters like Eric Kozlowski and Matt Barnes were seeing the ball well out of the hand of the normally shut down lefty.

An 8-0 deficit was too much to overcome for an Oilmen offense that never gained any real momentum, scraping together only four hits total. Tom Kelley (Miami (OH) / Orland Park, Ill.), who reached base three times on two hits and a walk, served as the only bright spot in a lineup that was affected by a longer layoff than usual between games due to inclement weather.

“A rain delay can either work in your favor or work against you. We were hot on the eight game winning streak and then guys kind of cool off with those extra off days,” Vitulli said.

The Oilmen will try to get back on track against the DuPage County Hounds on Thursday at Oil City Stadium. First pitch is slated for 7:10 p.m. The game will be airing on the Oilmen Broadcasting Network with Sam Michel and Dan Harty on the call.