Chicago, Ill.- July 24- The lead was kept after a surging comeback was forming.

The MCL Minutemen (8-18) just held on to the Crestwood Panthers (14-16) 4-3 after jumping out to an early lead. The Minutemen got four runs on the board in the second inning, but couldn’t manufacture another run the rest of the game, almost allowing Crestwood to comeback in the seven inning matchup.

After Gino Gazzillo (Joliet JC/ Chicago, Ill.), Armani Sanchez (Undecided/ St. John, Ind.) and Brennan Brogni (Illinois Springfield/ Flagstaff, Ariz.) walked, Devin Smith (Prairie State/ Mokena, Ill.) got things started with a hit by pitch to send Gazzillo home to put the Minutemen on the board. Zack Beatty (McBook CC/ Maple Park, Ill.) cracked things open with a double into center field to score the three base runners to extend the lead to 4-0. Four runs was enough to hold off the Panthers as they tagged on three runs in the game. Beatty felt good when the ball came off the bat.

“I’ve had a few of those where it’s a jam shot. It was nice to get that one to drop, and I’m glad Cisco sent him on the last one because if he didn’t, we would still be playing right now with the game tied,” Beatty said.

Not only did the Minutemen go into the final inning with the lead, but they had to defend it as well. Smith came in the final inning and was awarded the save. Beatty was very happy with how the Minutemen played, and how they are playing winning baseball.

“We played hard. We started off hot and got six batters on early and got something out of that,” Beatty said, “It feels really good. We’ve been off track a lot, and it’s been tough. We’ve been playing a lot of good competition, but there’s been games we should’ve been winning, but couldn’t finish. It feels good to come out on top in a few.”

The Minutemen have now won three games in their last four. They will get the off day tomorrow, but will take on the Panthers again on Monday at Prairie State College at 5:05 pm. 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.