Chicago, Ill.- July 7- It was a back and forth battle, keeping it close until the very end when one team ran away with it.

The MCL Minutemen (4-13) fell short to the Chicago American Giants (9-8) at Gouwens Park in the 9-3 loss. The Minutemen were looking to shake off the loss the night prior, and get back on track. They competed and kept it close until the Giants took control in the seventh inning to seal the deal.

In the fourth inning, the Minutemen were down three runs. Ryan Nelson (Eastern Kentucky/ Aurora, Ill.) smacked a line drive into left field to score Gabe Cortez (Prairie State/ Tinley Park, Ill.) for the first Minutemen run of the game. At the end of the inning, Nico Pena (Prairie State/ Chicago, Ill.) hit a clean double. He then got thrown out advancing to third, but Nelson was able to score the second Minutemen run. In the sixth inning, Nelson stole third base. Then Gino Gazzillo (Joliet JC/ Homewood, Ill.) stole second on a ball pitched. In the attempt to throw out Gazzillo, Nelson had enough time to steal home to score the third and final Minutemen run to bring them within one run. The American Giants an inning later would put up five runs to put the game out of reach. 

Manager Deandre Gilmore liked what he saw out of his players tonight. 

“It was a good game, but we had one bad inning, that’s all. One bad inning of baseball where we just threw the ball around. Other than that, it was a good game,” Gilmore said.

The Minutemen sit at the bottom of the standings with a 4-12 record, but Gilmore isn’t worried about the wins and losses right now. His focus is playing better baseball, and improving day by day.

“I just want these guys to continue to get better. Don’t press for wins all the time. Sometimes, you see the win and loss record and you think it’s the end of the world, but you have to work on your craft. Everybody has something they have to work on,” Gilmore said.

The season series with the American Giants now sits at 4-2 in the Giants favor. The Minutemen will get a chance to play them a few more times this week to change that. Gilmore wants to see the team respond well and bounce back.

The Minutemen will be at home at Prairie State College tomorrow at 5:05 pm where they will rematch the Chicago American Giants. Follow @MclMinutemen on Twitter to keep up with all the latest Minutemen news and updates, and follow @MCLMinutemen on Facebook to catch the live streams of every game.