The Crestwood Panthers began the final series of the year on the right foot defeating the Northwest Indiana Oilmen at Oil City Stadium in Whiting, Indiana.

The Panthers jumped out early with six runs over the first three innings to jump out to a 6-1 lead. The game was blown open in the fifth inning as the Panthers took advantage of two critical Oilmen errors to take a 12-3 lead. Crestwood would maintain the lead from then on to win 15-5.

“When a good team starts to beat themselves, you need to capitalize.” Head Coach D’Vante Glenn said after the game, “We were able to do that today.”

Every offensive player on the Panthers scored at least once. Connor Janik carried the torch with three hits and two RBIs. Adrian Swiech and Jimmy Gurgone also had two RBI days.

Gurgone went 1/5 on the day dropping his average to .408 in his quest for the Northern League batting title. He now holds an 11 point advantage over second place Michael Gould (.397).

Overall, it was a full team effort on offense as the Panthers scored their second highest run total on the season. Glenn believes it was the players letting loose that allowed them to have success.

“We understand we are out of the playoffs, so we are just trying to go out there and compete.” Glenn said.

Amidst the offensive explosion, the Panthers quietly got a great starting performance from Ryan Ball who pitched five innings giving up only three runs on three hits. Cooper Burkel pitched the next three innings giving up only one run before Keegan Bobbitt pitched the final inning.

The Panthers play the Oilmen again on Friday at 7:10 p.m. at Oil City Stadium in the penultimate game of the season. The Panthers are now 4-4 against the Oilmen this season.

For the full box score, visit the Northern League Pointstreak page: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=577486