Seniors and Juniors Stumble in Play Against Burwell

Monday June 27  found Burwell in O'Neill to play a twin bill with the Irish Seniors. In the first game Burwell started out with four in the first and four in the third, then nine in the fourth while the Irish could only muster six runs. Walks and errors led to the majority of Burwell's runs as they finished off the Irish 6-19 in five innings. The second game was close with Burwell leading the Irish by a single run until the fifth inning when two walks and four errors started an eight run rally that the Irish had no answer. Final score was 1-10, again over in five innings. Despite the thumping there were a couple of bright spots for the night. Jordyn Johnson pitched three innings without an earned run in the second game before being relieved and Derek Blumenstock reached base five out of six times at the plate between the two games. 

Friday, July 1 the Irish Juniors and Seniors finished out the regular season at Neligh. The evening started with the Juniors and Kyle Loecker on the mound. He pitched the first five innings allowing only one hit. Luke Loecker stepped on the mound to start the sixth inning and did not allow another hit for the final two innings, striking out five of the last six Neligh batters. Meanwhile the Irish scored one in the first without a hit and three runs in the second on one walk and three doubles. They added two more runs in the fifth on a walk, a single, and a fielders choice to make the final score 6-3. 

The Seniors finished the sweep of Neligh in the late game. Kurtis Mlinar started on the mound and only allowed only two hits in the first four and one-third innings. Then Ian Lueninghoener came in relief with a runner on first and recorded the final two outs without a hit. Thus, the O'Neill pitchers only allowed a total of three hits in both games. Derek Blumenstock was three for three and Kyle Eby was two for three at the plate.  The Irish bats in the Senior game produced a total of seven hits and Irish runners stole five bases along with advancing on seven other wild pitches/passed balls. The Irish went home early winning by 12-4. 

These last victories were important for the Irish as the seedings were released for the league tournament giving both O'Neill teams home games to start out next week. The Juniors will play Bloomfield on Tuesday as the second seed in the west division. The Seniors will start on Wednesday by taking on Stanton and enjoy home field for the entire single elimination tournament. The finals for the Elkhorn Valley League will be played at the Fred Appleby Field in O'Neill on Saturday.