Baseball: Romeoville Falls to Minooka in Series Finale

Touching all the bases: After a wild first inning with 11 combined runs, the Minooka Indians came back from a 6-5 first inning deficit with two runs in the fourth and four more in the sixth, avoiding the series sweep against conference foe Romeoville. 

Patch’s MVP: Jordan Pemble, Romeoville. Pemble, continued his recent hot streak, hitting a first-inning grand slam to get the Spartans back in the game. 

Key stat: Neither starting pitcher made it out of the first inning. Indians starter Trevor Machek and Spartans starter Casey Moll combined for two-thirds of an inning pitched and seven earned runs (Machek allowed three unearned because of an error). 

Romeoville’s leaders: In addition to Pemble: Vidal Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a homer and two runs scored. 

Minooka’s leaders: Dakota Brown went 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBI. Joe Vallera went 3-for-4 with three RBI. 

Quotable: Spartans coach Tony Smith: “We didn’t have a leadoff man on base after the first inning and that puts pressure on the rest of your team.” 

Team records: Romeoville 8-11 and 6-8 in Southwest Prairie Conference play. Minooka, 13-8 and 7-5.