Chicago, Ill.- July 29-  Home runs are the most impactful ways to score in a baseball game. In Lisle, Ill. tonight, a homerun gave one team a lead that was almost too much to come back from, and a home run gave the other team the comeback.

The MCL Minutemen (8-23) lost to the Joliet Generals (19-12) 8-7 after holding the lead the whole game, then giving it up on a walk-off homerun. The Minutemen scored seven runs, all six coming between the first two innings. One in the first, and six in the second.

The scoring started out with Brennan Brogni (Illinois Springfield/ Flagstaff, Ariz.) hitting a sac fly deep into center field for Jorge Santos (South Suburban/ Homewood, Ill.) to score their first run. The second is where things took off for the Minutemen. Doug Loden (Joliet JC/ St. John, Ind.) ripped a triple into center field, scoring Santos and Nate Villagomez (Moraine Valley/ Burbank, Ill.) for the first two runs of the inning. Right after, Zack Beatty (McBook CC/ Maple Park, Ill.) singled to score Loden. Later on with Brodni and Nick Noles on base, Justin Kerecets (Northwood/ Loves Park, Ill.) hit a three run home run to give them runs five, six, and seven. Manager Deandre Gilmore was excited for Kerecets’ first home run.

“I was very happy for him. He’s been hitting well the whole two weeks that he’s been here, so I couldn’t be more happy for him,” GIlmore said.

Gilmore was also happy with the way the Minutemen battled in today’s game. He liked the energy and intensity the team brought with them to Benedictine university.

“It was a great game on both sides. Great energy and intensity throughout the game,” GIlmore said.

The Minutemen started out hot, but after the second inning didn’t drive in a single run. Gilmore says they need to make some adjustments to make sure this doesn’t keep occurring at the end of the season.

“All year, we have one big inning of guys hitting and swinging the bat, and then we just leave runners on. That’s something that we just have to fix. It’s a mindset, and you have to go up there and be ready to hit,” Gilmore said.

The Minutemen will look to rebound at Oil City Stadium tomorrow night at 7:10 pm when they face the Northwest Indiana Oilmen. 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.