By Drake Skleba

JOLIET – Minooka (6-3) limped into the WJOL Area Invite with a so-so 3-3 mark this weekend. And once again, the unheralded Indians left the prestigious tournament with a winning record and, ultimately, the championship trophy. The title was No. 3 for the resurgent Indians.

Led by WJOL Area Invite Tournament MVP junior 3B Joe Carnagio, the Indians defeated another group of Indians from Lemont, 9-5. Carnagio and Indian senior Carson Neushwander both had two hits and drove home a Minooka run.

“This is awesome to win the MVP and tournament trophies,” said Carnagio. “I couldn’t have done it without my great teammates. Right now the ball looks like a beach ball to me. I’m in a good groove.”

Neushwander, who was runner-up to Carnagio in the MVP race, hit .545 for the tournament with a win in relief in Friday’s thrilling win over Plainfield Central (6-2). Carnagio won it in the bottom of the seventh at Lockport Friday night 2-1.

“This is awesome to win the WJOL title,” said Neushwander. “We are playing so well right now and everyone is hitting the ball. I had a good tournament. I try to do whatever I can to help the team win.”

Minooka jumped out to a 7-0 lead as the Indians scored three times in the second and put four more on the board in the fourth. In the three-run second inning, Minooka’s junior C Dane Colvin had a clutch two-run single to open up a 3-0 lead for Minooka.

“It feels great to win this tournament,” said Colvin. “We beat a lot of good teams to win this tournament. It was quite an accomplishment. It felt good to come though in that situation in the second.” 

Lemont (4-3) mounted a four-run uprising to close to 7-4 in the fifth. Minooka closer, junior Steve Szymanski, relieved Minooka starting and winning pitcher junior Josh Mitchell (1-1) with a runner on second and two outs. Szymanski struck out his third consecutive hitter in the tournament to close out the Lemont threat. Szymanski struck out the final two JCA hitters in Minooka’s 4-2 semifinal win at Lockport Saturday afternoon.

“I really kept them off-balance all day,” said Szymanski. “I changed speeds real well and my curveball was really breaking today.”

Lemont closed to 7-5 on an RBI single by senior Gio Smith. Minooka tacked on a couple of insurance runs in the sixth. Szymanski closed out Lemont in the seventh for his second save in about nine hours.

Lemont received a pair of doubles and two RBI from sophomore 1B Mike Papierski.

For Minooka, senior LF Nick Fleishhauer drove in three runs to help lead the Indians to the crown.

“This really feels good to win our third WJOL title,” said Minooka head coach Jeff Petrovic. “We have beaten a number of top-ranked teams all season. I am so happy for Joe Carnagio. Joe is a great kid and it’s awesome to see him enjoying so much success. I can say the same for my entire 22-man roster. It’s a real pleasure coaching this team.”