Hammond, Ind. – June 20, 2022 – There’s the old saying in baseball that goes, “great pitching will always beat great hitting.” 

Monday night was a prime example of that for the Southland Vikings (10-7-1) as they shut out the Northwest Indiana Oilmen (9-10), by a score of 2-0. The victory was the first shutout the Vikings pitching staff has tossed this season. 

Vikings right-hander Max Everaert set the tone early with yet another strong start. Everaert went seven innings of shutout ball while allowing just three hits, two walks, and a season-high eight strikeouts. His performance on Monday led to Everaert’s third win of the summer.

“Today, my curveballs were working pretty well with two strikes,” Everaert said. “The guy back there calling pitches [Jon Crowel] knew what he was doing. He was dialed in. We were dialed together. We're on the same page. That's why it worked.”

Everaert was followed up by Tom Devine and Ray Cantelo, who combined for two innings of work, allowing just one hit and punching out two Oilmen hitters. 

“It seemed like they had a lot of trust [in me] when I was calling and they trusted that they would be effective [today],” Jon Crowel said on the overall performance of the pitching staff.

The pitching staff’s success meant that the Viking offense needed one positive inning on offense to give them the ballgame. In this case, that would be the bottom of the fifth. 

The ‘Vikes saw back-to-back singles from Blaze Cano and Jon Crowel, both would come across to score in the frame. Cano, on an RBI groundout by Chris McDevitt, and Crowel on a wild pitch. 

The Vikings will be back in action on Tuesday evening when they travel to Marian Catholic High School in pursuit of their sixth straight win. The matchup against the Crestwood Panthers is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will be aired on Facebook Live.

This is Vikings Baseball.

Photo Credit: Isaiah Santiago