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What began as a pitchers’ duel descended into a fielding nightmare in the bottom of the 7^th as the DuPage County Hounds saw their 8-game winning streak (an MCL record) grind to a screeching halt, 5-0 at the hands of the Northwest Indiana Oilmen.

After six and a half scoreless innings at Oil City Stadium, Hounds starter Matt Frawley surrendered a leadoff single to Nate Schneider, who promptly stole second base. Zack Jones then reached second on shortstop Connor Kopach’s errant throw after an infield slip. Nick Vogelmeier reached first base two batters later on another failed fielder’s choice, this time as second baseman Drew LaComb’s throw to third was too late to retire Schneider.

With two outs and the bags full, Kevin DeFilippis laced a single into center to put the first run on the board. Jason Gasser followed with a hard groundball down the first base line that squirted between the legs of Alex Cain. Two more runs scored on the error. A fourth run of the bottom of the 7^th came in after Frawley balked before his first pitch to the next hitter.

NWI (10-6) picked up an insurance run off Bob Kametas in the bottom of the 8^th. Jones singled in Schneider to make it 5-0 Oilmen.

Cameron Linck earned the W for the Oilmen, tossing seven shutout innings. He allowed four hits, walked four and struck out seven, fighting out of jams in the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th innings.

Garrett Sherrell finished the job for NWI with two scoreless innings in relief. After loading the bases in the top of the 8^th, he struck out Mike Roberson on a wicked curveball to end the Hounds’ biggest threat.

The win was redemption for an Oilmen squad that had lost three of its last four games, including consecutive home blowouts against the bottom-two Chicago Zephyrs and Joliet Admirals.

Pitching a spot-start in place of Pat Cashman, Frawley picked up the hard-luck loss, allowing four runs (one earned) on three hits over seven innings. Frawley issued one walk and struck out seven.

DuPage County (16-4) committed four errors on the evening, including a pair of errant throws by third baseman Drew Sterioti in the 1^st and 2^nd innings.

Drew LaComb and Frankie Perrone each hit doubles for the Hounds. Jason Gasser also added a 3^rd-inning two-bagger with a hard hit off the middle of the 30-foot-high wall in left field.

The shutout was DuPage County’s first failure to score in the 2014 season and extends the team’s scoreless streak to 15 innings. The Hounds’ last run came on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the 2^nd inning Wednesday morning against Joliet.

The Hounds are back in action tomorrow afternoon as they travel to Flossmoor to face the Vikings. Southland has dealt DuPage two of its four losses on the season. PLEASE NOTE: The first pitch is at 1:00, as opposed to 7:00, as it is listed on the schedule.