-by Dan Flaherty
Five O's Nation has been buzzing throughout the week with the record-setting contract inked by Mike Eppler with the San Francisco 49ers. In light of that, it was perhaps ironic that their season, off to a bit of a wobbly start, took a decisive turn for the better on a sixth inning where Monches was forced to expend 49 pitches to get the requisite trio of outs and Oconomowoc cashed it in for a 7-3 win.
The Irish threw a feisty 16-year old, Andy Smith, the favored O's, and though it took the teenager ninety pitches to survive four innings, he somehow emerged unscathed clinging to a 2-1 lead, as the O's stranded twelve runners and handed the visitors a pair of unearned runs. The game stayed that way until the sixth, when Mike Mitchell broke the ice with a leadoff triple. Steve Rhoads, drawing walks at a pace one is more accustomed to seeing from players hitting at table-setting positions in the order, mustered his fifth free pass of the young season. Dan Schlosser batted for Eppler, who had departed on his private jet for minicamp just prior to the inning. Schlosser was hit by a pitch and the bases were loaded.
For the second week in a row, Kevin Raasch faced a bases-loaded situation with the lead on the line in the mid-innings. And for the second week in a row he rose to the occasion, slashing a single to center to give his team a 3-2 lead. Jeff Rhoads singled to right for another run and Derek Nelson's second double of the day gave the O's some breathing room at 6-2. Sean Smith ripped a single to right to bring home Nelson, and a long forty-nine pitches after Mitchell came to the plate, the Irish finally got out of the inning, but their luck had run out.
After Rob Becker turned in a stellar performance, giving five innings with only two unearned runs, Andy Neary came on to nail it down, keeping the Monches bats quiet until they picked up a run in the ninth inning, needing a bloop single and a passed-ball strikeout to finish the scoring. It was a workmanlike win for the O's as they evened up their record. They prepare for a weekend road trip, playing a non-league game at Slinger on Friday before traveling to play defending division champ Lannon on Sunday. And with the Stonemen also conjuring up images of the 49ers-albeit of the 1980s-90s variety-Five O's Nation battens down the hatches and girds itself for war.
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