Irish Teams Have Tough Time On The Road

Tuesday saw the Irish Legion teams travel to Crofton. The Juniors started the evening by giving up five runs in the first four innings before batting in four runs in the top of the fifth to close the gap to one run. However, Crofton opened the game up with five runs in their half of the inning and the Irish Juniors could not recover. Kyle Pardun and Marcus McNichols both went two for three at the plate but the Irish could only muster three other hits. Kyle and Marcus also took care of the pitching duties for the night. 

The Irish seniors did not fare much better in the late game as they could only get three hits all night. Crofton chipped away at the Irish, scoring one in the second, two in the third, two more in the fourth and one in the fifth and sixth innings to make the score 0-7. Luke Loecker pitched the entire game for the Irish allowing only two earned runs as errors accounted for the other five. 

Wednesday night found the Irish on the road again. This time they traveled to Hartington for a pair of games. The Irish juniors started the night off with a run in the top of the first but Hartington rallied for three in the bottom of the first frame. Hartington built a 1-5 lead before the Irish scored two in the top of the fifth to close the gap to 3-5. Unfortunately, the Juniors could not score again and lost 3-6 but their play improved dramatically from the prior night. 

The Irish seniors fell behind 1-2 after two innings but exploded for six runs in the top of the fourth inning, two in the fifth and three in the sixth. Hartington scored four more unearned runs but could get no closer than the 12-6 final score. The Irish pounded out thirteen hits being lead by Connor Peterson and Derek Blumenstock each going three for five. Jordyn Johnson pitched a complete game allowing only two earned runs. 

Friday was the final home game for the Elkhorn Valley League season for the Irish, Neligh was the opponent. The Irish juniors jumped out to a three run lead in the bottom of the first but could not hold it as Neligh scored nine unearned runs in the fifth to finish the game at 6-16. Marcus McNichols, Kyle Pardun and Tony Castro all went two for three at the plate but mental mistakes on the base path and in the field resulted in too many Neligh runs. 

The Irish seniors took care of business by scoring three runs in the first, five more in the second and two in the fourth to tally ten runs by the fifth inning. Angel Rodriquez started on the mound pitching the first three scoreless and hitless innings. He was relieved by Connor Peterson throwing the final two innings also allowing no hits for the second no hit game of the season for the Irish. Connor Peterson and Kyle Loecker were three for three at the plate. Jordyn Johnson and Luke Loecker went two for three at the plate as the Irish pounded out twelve hits in only four innings as the game was called due to the ten run rule. 

On Monday the Irish will travel to Creighton and then after the Fourth of July the Elkhorn Valley League tournament will start.