With the season fully underway, it has been made clear that the NWI Oilmen are not to be messed with. Hammond, Griffith, and Elkhart County have all lost tragically to NWI by eight runs or more in every game. However, the Indiana Panthers have only lost by a deficit of four or less. Indiana has just wrapped up three straight games against the Oilmen, with a 9-8 loss in 10 innings on Thursday, a 20-16 loss on Sunday, and a 6-3 loss on Tuesday.

The loss in extra innings on Thursday was only the second time this season that the Oilmen were behind in a game. The only reason the Panthers lost was because of three mental errors in the tenth, letting NWI come back and score five runs to win.

The same problem around mental errors came back on Sunday in the 20-16 loss. Indiana put seven errors on the board, but had a tremendous day at the plate, scoring 14 hits. Of the 20 runs scored by the Oilmen in that game, only nine of them were earned.

On Tuesday, the team was tremendous defensively, keeping the errors even with the Oilmen. Besides a rough inning on the mound for Max Hoogeveen in the second, there is not much to blame that loss on. NWI even scored the least amount of runs they have scored so far this season with only six, only two being earned.

While the reasons for the losses are relatively easy to find, it is much harder to find why Indiana is having somewhat successful outings against the Oilmen. The numbers themselves do not show amazing things, but the team is closer than any other to beating the number one boys in yellow.

Luke Fassoth, who has two appearances on the mound and a start at 2nd base, is in total confusion on why the Panthers are having success against such a hard team. The only words he could muster being, "I don't know, to be honest. Every game we play against them, its their closest game yet."

Demetrio Guizar, who had his first start on Tuesday, chalks it up to hitting. "I think we're always hitting the ball. We always have runners in scoring position. We're a good hitting team, I think."

The Panthers have two games against the Generals and one more against Elkhart County before a double header against the Oilmen at home. You can tweet at us or let us know on Facebook what you think the team is doing well and how they can finally put themselves in the win column against the Oilmen.