LEMONT, Ill. — In 10 years, ask Northwest Indiana Oilmen shortstop Jake Plastiak about Game 1 of the 2018 Midwest Collegiate League finals, and he’ll have plenty to discuss.
He might gloss over the defensive portion of the Oilmen’s 9-8 win over the DuPage County Hounds, though.
“It obviously wasn’t my best day,” Plastiak said. “But I’m not going to let that affect anything else. I just had to forget about it and try to be better next time.”
Plastiak made two errors on defense but was certainly better on offense, as the Tinley Park native and 28th-round selection by the San Diego Padres in this year’s major league draft went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and four runs.
That offensive eruption helped the Oilmen rally to win the opening game of the best-of-3 championship series. Game 2 is at 5 p.m. Saturday at Oil City Stadium in Whiting.
The Wichita State-bound Plastiak had three hits go for extra bases, with doubles in the third and fifth innings and a solo homer in the sixth. But Plastiak said those defensive lapses weren’t what fueled his big day at the plate.
“There was more of an incentive because it was a playoff game,” he said.
Plastiak’s second error of the game was part of DuPage’s four-run rally in the fourth, putting the Hounds up 7-4.
The Oilmen responded with four in the sixth. Third basemen Jackson Dvorak drove in two runs with a triple and then scored on Nate Montgomery’s sacrifice fly before Plastiak’s solo shot.
“That pitch was a hanging change-up,” Plastiak said of his homer. “I guessed right, barreled it up and was lucky to get enough of it.”
Oilmen starter Alex Voss took over from there. The four runs DuPage scored in the fourth were all unearned, and Voss shut out the Hounds the rest of his outing. Voss lasted seven innings, giving up seven runs — just two earned — on eight hits and one walk with six strikeouts.
Oilmen closer Pedro Rodriguez handled the last two innings for the save.
A conversation with Montgomery, the Oilmen catcher, before the game helped set Voss up for success.
“We scratched my curveball today because it wasn’t looking good,” Voss said. “We went with the fastball, change-up and slider.”
Voss, a Butler freshman, is just two months removed from the end of his high school career at South Bend St. Joseph and earning the win had him beaming.
“It’s my first summer trying to play college-level baseball,” Voss said. “And it means a lot to me, that I could come out here and do my best to help our team win.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.