Irish Seniors Continue Strong Season By Taking Wood Bat Title

The O'Neill baseballers had yet another reason to celebrate this weekend.

​The O'Neill Irish Pinnacle Bank Irish Seniors won the Creighton Wooden Bat Tournament on Sunday with a win over Creighton 9-5 Sunday evening.

The Irish jumped all over the Knox County squad with two runs in the first, four runs in the second, and three more runs in the third to take a 9-0 lead.

Josh Cuddy was a stud on the mound for the Irish throughout as he only allowed four hits throughout the game, however a leaky Irish defense helped Creighton score five runs in the 3rd to hang around in this contest. Cuddy struck out nine and only walked two before giving way to steady hand Esteban DeLaO who came in and closed the game in the 6th inning. DeLaO loaded the bases but worked his way out of the jam. 

Devin Jurgensmeier continued his torrid hitting steak as he went 3-4 to pace the Irish bats. Bailey Thompson "wrestled" in two hits for the Irish as well and Nic Haburchak liked the wooden bats in the tournament and had two big hits as well. Alex Thramer scored three runs from the two hole in the lineup and the eight and nine hitters, Haburchak and Wyatt Liewer, each scored two runs.

"We will get to work on our defense and get that shored up as we head into our July schedule," said coach Greg Appleby. "We will get all pieces working together with pitching, defense, and hitting and be a tough team to beat late in the season. The depth of this pitching staff may rival that of any team I have ever coached."

The Irish now stand with a 15-3 season record.