Thursday saw Minooka’s baseball team suffer its first loss of the season in the WJOL semifinals against Joliet West. When the third place Saturday game was canceled due to weather, that forced the Indians to sit with that loss a few extra days.

They came out Monday playing angry and they showed it.

Minooka put up four runs in the first inning against Joliet Central and didn’t slow down. The offense compiled 13 hits, the pitching staff allowed just one hit, and the Indians took care of business in just five innings to down Joliet Central 12-0.

Minooka (7-1) had gotten off to a hot start this season, winning their first six games before the loss to Joliet West. The Indians had opportunities to win that game, but still came up just short.

Coach Jeff Petrovic acknowledged that in that game and the WJOL quarterfinal against Plainfield Central, the Indians didn’t play their best ball. He was also quite pleased with how they played Monday to get back on track.

“It really does stink to sit on a loss,” Petrovic said. “I think the guys came out ready to get back on the right foot. I thought all facets of the game today were really, really solid. Joey (Rutz) pitched very well today, we got some timely hits, ran the bases well and it was just good to get going again.”

The fact that Minooka started off with six straight wins might be somewhat surprising to some.

While the Indians went 33-4 last season, they lost some serious production to graduation. Two-way stars CJ Deckinga (Michigan State) and Brayden Zilis (Illinois State) were chief among them.

As Petrovic pointed out, though, Minooka has had plenty of years in which the team lost a lot only to keep on succeeding. It’s still very early, but the Indians seem to be doing that this year as well.

“I told the boys at the beginning of the year in 2005 I had the best team I’ll ever have,” Petrovic said. “We lost in the sectional championship game against Michael Bowden who ended up pitching for the Cubs. It was an incredible team and everyone thought the next year would be a struggle.

“All we did was finish third in the state tournament. One season ends and you just keep on rolling. We believe we have a pretty good team, we just have to play a little bit better than we have at times.”

They certainly played great on Monday. Rutz gave up just one hit in three innings while Dane Valade struck out three with no hits allowed in two innings. Kyle Rodak (3 for 4, two RBIs), Conor Powers (2 for 4, two RBIs) and Gavin McReynolds (2 for 3, two runs) led the offense.

“We came together as a team today,” Rodak said. “We took that Joliet West loss, made it personal for ourselves and won this game because we wanted it bad.”

Joliet Central (5-4) has already surpassed its win total from all of last year, though this is now the second consecutive loss the Steelmen have suffered. Coach Miguel Silva said the team will need to improve their fundamentals after the Steelmen committed six errors on Monday.

“We’ve got to protect the baseball,” Silva said. “We’ve got to make plays and play catch. It’s basic fundamental stuff that we have to clean up. ...Our pitchers are giving us a chance, I think we’re having competitive at bats, but we have to be much better defensively.”

It’s a big week for Minooka as they play Plainfield Central and Joliet West again. Petrovic said this week will be key for the team.

“It’s a big week to get that momentum back,” he said. “Even that Thursday we didn’t really play well in the tournament in either game. We just have to get back to playing Minooka baseball.”