Irish Win 10-7 Over Aurora

Friday night was the start of the Area 5 Junior Legion for O'Neill with the Irish taking on Albion in Aurora. Albion had beaten Pierce on Thursday and was the third seed while O'Neill was the second seed. The Irish started the scoring in the first with a run after Kyle Loecker walked, stole second and Alex Fuhrer knocked him in. In the second inning Albion scored two runs to take the lead. Then in the top of the third Albion added four more runs to make the score 1-6 on five O'Neill errors. O'Neill answered in the bottom of the third with Luke Loecker and Donnie Taylor being knocked in by Marcus McNichols and Angel Rodriguez. 

The next two innings were quiet from both teams. In the bottom of the sixth inning the Irish plated two more runs with two out to close the gap to 5-6. Albion's good play snuffed out the tying run at the plate. However, O'Neill started the seventh inning with two hit batsmen then Marcus McNichols singled in the tying run. After a third hit batsman for the inning and with two outs, Kyle Pardun ripped a single down the line past the Albion's third baseman as Donnie Taylor trotted in for the winning run. 

Aurora came out of the other side of the winner's bracket to face the Irish in Sunday evening's late game. The Irish started the game with a run in the first but left the bases loaded. The bases were loaded again in the second for the Irish but we could not get any more runs. Meanwhile Kyle Loecker took the mound for the Irish and did not allow a run until the bottom of the third. The Irish bats were silent in the third and fourth innings while Aurora built a 1-5 lead. Luke Loecker took over the mound in the fourth inning to stop the Aurora rally. In the fifth inning the Irish started with a run to cut into the lead but Aurora answered in the bottom of the frame with a run to maintain a four run lead. 

The sixth inning started with an Irish rally for three runs closing the gap to one run but thanks to an Irish error in the bottom of the frame, the Irish found themselves down by two runs when the seventh frame started. After two singles and two walks with one out, the score was tied. Ryan Podony hit a high chopper off the plate that Aurora's third baseman threw into the runner at first base and the ball ended up in right field. Three runs scored giving the Irish a three run lead going into the bottom of the inning. Good defense prevented any more Aurora runs in the bottom of the frame and the result was the Irish winning 10-7 to be the team left in the winner's side of the bracket.