WHITING, Ind. – The Griffith Generals continue to stifle the Northwest Indiana Oilmen, beating them for the fourth consecutive time by a score of 5-0. The game ended half an inning early due to lightning.
Haron Abuelhija had the start of the season for the Generals, as he pitched seven scoreless innings while only giving up three hits and two walks. He focused on two things: “Throw strikes. Trust the defense; that’s what Bino [Mark Ross] told me before the game. I had a couple of walks and hit-by-pitches, but mostly strikes.”
The big blow came in the fourth inning when Nick Fies launched a ball over the brick monster in left field for a two-run homer, doubling the Generals lead to 4-0. It was Fies’ second homer of the season, the first one since opening day on May 30.
Head coach Peter Romsek was quick to praise his starter on the stellar performance, as he said Abuelhija was “Fantastic all night. Kept his pitch count down. [Caleb] Deel backed it up with a clean eighth. A big swing of the bat from Fies was good to see too.”
The Generals are now 4-8 over their last 12 games, with all those wins being against the Oilmen. This is also the first time they have won consecutive games in nearly a month. Griffith will face the Indiana Pathers in a doubleheader tomorrow. When asked about the strategy for another long day, Romsek said the Generals would “try the same strategy we had against the Miracle with depth. Hopefully, the results are a bit better.” The last doubleheader the Generals had resulted in the Elkhart County Miracle sweeping them in Nappanee.
The two-game slate against the Panthers starts tomorrow at 5 p.m.