On a nice spring Saturday morning, the Minooka Indians varsity baseball team took on the Sandburg Eagles. On April 11, the Eagles, who were ranked 17th in the state at the time, took the trip to Minooka to play a doubleheader against the Indians. Sandburg came into the matchup with a 10-1 record, while Minooka was 8-2.
Minooka was coming off of a tough loss against Joliet West and was looking to bounce back. The team felt like they were in a tough spot where they hadn’t played their best baseball yet and wanted to find it.
“The Friday before our game Saturday, we finally realized that something needed to change. So we started doing the little things right during practice and really had a good practice that changed the energy,” junior Tyler Ebel said.
Thanks to head coach Jeff Petrovic, the team went out Friday night for a team dinner.
“So we truly changed our energy and finally felt like a team,” Ebel said.
Minooka ended up winning 8-4.
“The Sandburg game certainly was a good one. The team atmosphere was really great to see. The baseball family is a very important component to our program’s success,” Petrovic said.
Junior Logan Mackin started the game on the mound and pitched all the way into the seventh inning for the Indians. Mackin’s final line was 1 W, 6 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 7 SO.
“I was focusing on just the current pitch and not getting distracted by anything that had happened previously or by thinking into the future,” Mackin said. “This helped me start focused and have a good outing”
Junior Landon Currie was on fire at the plate for the Indians. Currie led off the game with a home run and he didn’t stop there. He would end his day going 3 for 4 with 2 home runs, 3 R, and 3 RBIs.
“I felt locked in and I knew that if the pitcher gave me something good to hit I was going to smash it,” Currie said. “The team atmosphere was electric all day. It was so fun being out there with the guys.”
Overall, this was a huge win for the Minooka Indians that hopefully will help them get going in the right direction and have a great season.
Howie Porath is a member of the varsity baseball team.
