The Region's Team Of Northwest Indiana

Bloomington, Ill. – July 3, 2018 – The Northwest Indiana Oilmen dropped both games of a doubleheader on Tuesday against the Bloomington Bobcats at O’Neal Park.

The Bobcats prevailed 10-8 in a back-and-forth first game, then downed the Oilmen 13-3 in the second game.

Zaid Walker (Michigan State / Flossmoor, Ill.) led the Oilmen with four hits over the two games, most notably a booming three-run homer that pulled the Oilmen within a run in the eighth inning of Game 1, trimming Bloomington’s lead to 9-8.

“On balls more toward his pull side, Zaid was able to elevate today,” Oilmen manager Adam Enright said. “He wasn’t rolling over and top spinning them as much. The double that he hit in the second game had a little bit of a top spin. He’s making progress toward being able to do damage on pitches that he should be able to hit to left-center.”

Nate Montgomery (Tusculum / Geneva, Ill.) and Jake Plastiak (Wichita State / Tinley Park, Ill.) added two hits apiece in the opener, a game that saw the Oilmen own leads of 2-0 and 3-2. The biggest frame of the game was Bloomington’s six-run fourth that snapped a 3-3 stalemate.

The Oilmen (16-13) had a short-handed pitching staff throughout the day. Game 1 starter George Sherman (Dominican / Skokie) took the loss after allowing nine runs (seven earned) on 10 hits in five innings. In Game 2, Nick Wolf (McHenry County / Valparaiso, Ind.) was hit with the defeat after allowing five runs on eight hits in three frames. Sherman did not issue any walks, while Wolf walked three.

“We threw a lot of strikes,” Enright said. “Sherman just had the one inning where he got hit around a lot, but I wasn’t going to go out there and tell him to throw less strikes on a day like today. Hats off to Bloomington hitters, who squared everything up. In the second game, they got in a lot of deep counts with a lot of foul balls and elevated our pitch counts.”

Walker went 2-for-2 and drove in a pair in the second game, accounting for two of the team’s five hits. He reached base in all three plate appearances in the nightcap.

Bloomington (13-14) hit three home runs on the day, including two in the second game by Billy Mote, who went 4-for-4 and drove in five with three extra-base knocks. Position players saw action on the mound in both games for NWI, which contributed to Bloomington scoring six in the fourth and four in the fifth in Game 2.

“The outlook is to enjoy the off day and get away from things a little bit before picking back up on Thursday,” Enright said. “We’ll look to win on the road after an off day and get our momentum started again.”

Thursday’s game between the Oilmen and Crestwood Panthers will begin at 4 p.m. CT and air on the Oilmen Broadcasting Network via Facebook Live.