Chicago, Ill.- June 22- A brewing comeback with a wave of momentum turned into a last-ditch effort in a race to beat the sun. 

The MCL Minutemen (3-10) added their seventh straight tally to the loss column against the Crestwood Panthers (9-8) in the 11-4 loss at Prairie State College where the game ended after eight innings due to darkness.. The team came off of three straight days off, one of which was due to a rain out. The team looked to come out hot, well rested and fresh. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case early on.

The team went down in the scoring column early on, letting up eight runs in the first three innings, and only scoring one. The bases were loaded in the second inning, and Mike Koszewski (Cincinnati/ Oak Brook, Ill.) was walked. This advanced all of the base runners, and allowed Josh Gaines (Undecided/ Homewood, Ill.) to score. Manager Deandre Gilmore didn’t like what he saw early on.

“Rough game. It was a little better because we didn’t just fall and not try to get back up. We tried to compete and stay in the game. We fought until the very end. We just got to have better starts,” Gilmore said.

Later on, the Minutemen kicked it up a notch. In the sixth inning, The Minutemen began showing signs of life on the scoreboard. Alphonzo Franks (Southeastern/ Munster, Ind.) hit a single, and Jimmy Mundo (Carthage/ Palos Heights, Ill.) followed it up with a walk to put runners on first and second base. This led to a double from Gino Gazzillo (Joliet JC/ Chicago, Ill.) to score one run. Two more runs would score off walks with the bases loaded from Mundo and Gazzillo. With the score in the eighth at 11-4, the Minutemen found themselves with the bases full once again. All momentum was with them. The  Minutemen couldn’t convert on the play when Ryan Nelson (Eastern Kentucky/ Aurora, Ill.) was picked off with two outs. Gilmore was very pleased with the fight that the team showed late in the game.

“I was very happy with that, but I think that’s something we got to do earlier.  If we do that early, I think the energy and the game within itself changes. We’ll be a lot better off later in the game,” Gilmore said. 

Strike heavy pitching from Nate Villagomez (Moraine Valley/ Burbank, Ill.) coming into the sixth also helped set the tone and keep momentum. Villagomez threw 30 strikes out of his 44 pitches while contributing three strikeouts. He only allowed two hits and one run in the three innings that he pitched. Gilmore really likes and admires the way his catcher has been pitching this season.

“Every time we put Nate out there, he goes out there and he throws strikes. He’s really a catcher and doesn’t really pitch,” he said, “This is his first year actually pitching and he’s showing people that he’s very talented.”

The Minutemen will play two more days straight at Prairie State. They will be at home tomorrow against the Northwest Indiana Oilmen at 5:05 pm where they will try and break their ongoing losing streak. 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.