The Milroy Irish saw their season come to an end Saturday at the hands of the Jackson Bulls.
The Irish were swept by the Bulls in the first round of the Region 10C best-of-three series, losing at home 8-2 last Wednesday and 6-4 at Jackson Saturday.
“All in all, it was a successful year for us,” Irish manager Anthony Dolan said. “I am extremely proud of our guys as we went very young with our lineup; the average of our team is 23 years old. Our future is very bright to say the least, and I was happy to see the growth of our guys. Looking to next season, we need to focus our efforts on becoming better hitters as all season we relied on our pitching and defense to win us ball games. Milroy Irish baseball has a strong future and I look forward to next season already.”
In the series opener, the Irish, who finished with a 14-7 overall record, took a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning behind a strong starting performance by Trevor Smith. However, just like that, Jackson grabbed a 3-2 lead and piled on from there, scoring seven runs in the final two innings.
Carson Javers had a pair of hits. Smith threw 7-2/3 innings, striking out five and walking two.
Game 2 saw the Bulls jump out to a 6-0 lead after three innings, but the Irish crawled their way back into the game with a run in the fifth, two in the seventh and another in the eighth, but that was as close as they would get.
“On the road in Game 2, we won every inning but one,” said Dolan. “We were resilient, as we came all the way back and even had runners on second and third with Dominic (Dolan) at the plate with a chance to tie the game.”
Like Jackson, the Irish had just five hits — two by Griffin Zick, and one apiece from Dominic Dolan, Andrew Wallen and Noah Knakmuhs.
Tyler Maeyaert was charged with the loss. He struck out seven, but walked six while allowing five earned runs.
Game 1 Jackson 100 000 043 — 8 12 1 Irish 001 001 000 — 2 9 1 Smith (L), Lasley (8), M. Javers (9), Peterson (9) and D. Smith. 2B: T. Smith. SAC: M. Dolan, Peterson. SF: Wallen. HBP: D. Dolan Game 2 Irish 000 010 201 — 4 5 1 Bulls 006 000 00x — 6 5 3 Maeyeart (L), Lasley (6) and D. Smith. HBP: D. Smith, Knakmuhs, Peterson.
