Opportunity lost?

A definite yes

The SPC West-leading Minooka Indians had a one-game lead over the second place Panthers of Oswego heading into the first of three SPC West season-ending games with the Panthers on Monday.

With a win the Indians would clinch at least a share of the SPC West title.

Oswego (16-6, 9-4) scored 12-runs in the top of the fourth inning and went on to crush the Indians 14-1 in five innings to pull into a first-place tie with Minooka (15-9, 9-4) atop the SPC West standings.

Opportunity lost.

"We had a chance to step on their face and clinch a tie for the conference championship today" Minooka coach Jeff Petrovic said. "We have given them all the momentum and face an uphill climb."

Season Over? No way.

The Indians will travel to Oswego's Jackie's Field of Dreams for a battle for supremacy in the SPC West on Tuesday.

The game was originally scheduled for 6:30 p.m. but due to threatening weather in Tuesday night's forecast, the game may be played Tuesday afternoon.

The two teams head back to Minooka for the series finale and the conference championship on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

Control troubl again plagued Indians senior starting and losing pitcher Kyle Walter (2-3), who walked four and hit a batter before exiting with the game tied at 1-1 in the Oswego top of the third inning with one out.

Indians reliever, junior Josh Davis, entered the game with the bases loaded and a 3-1 count on Panther sophomore Tyler Stack. Davis walked Stack on a 3-2 pitch to force in a run to give Oswego a 2-1 lead. The walk was charged to Walter. Davis put out the fire by retiring the final two Panthers in the inning.

The Panthers exploded for 12-runs in the top of the fourth inning to put the game away. For Indian nation, the Panther fourth inning was very difficult to watch.

Indians senior Joey Gould had two of the three Indian hits in the game, with a double and a single. Junior Ivan Dahlberg had a perfect-day at the plate with a single and a base-on balls.

Indians senior catcher Hunter Ryan again proved to be a nightmare for enemy base runners, gunning down a Panthers base runner trying to steal in the second inning. Ryan also drove home the lone Indian run with a sac-fly, driving home his team-high 17th RBI.

"We were humiliated today by Oswego," Petrovic added. "I told the kids if they're gonna lay an egg, they might as well lay an egg all over because we sucked in every facet of the game.

"Having said that, I am very confident that our kids will bounce-back from this humiliating loss. We will play very well tomorrow and back here on Thursday and we might just still win this thing."

Before the game, Athletic Director Bob Tyrell and Petrovic,honored the 10 Indian seniors and their parents before the first-pitch.

They are: Hunter Ryan, Josh Davis, Joey Gould, Kyle Walter, Jake Cook, Brendan Valdez, Niko Bibian, Keaton Sirek, Nick Gehrke and Casey Swanson.