Irish notebook

Irish notebook

State trips: The Ursuline High baseball team has made eight trips to state in the past 20 seasons. The Irish won state titles in 1998 and 2000.

Pitchers: Ursuline pitcher Sam Donko (9-2) was impressed with Wheelersburg senior Derek Moore. “He’s a good guy, he was impressive today. His defense worked well — we hit a lot [of balls] right at them. We didn’t catch any breaks. They were excellent defensively.” The Irish had five hits. The first came in the sixth inning when Dion Felger singled to right. The Irish had three hits in the bottom of the eighth inning. “We were starting to put some swings on him in the seventh and eight innings — [he was] maybe fatigued a little bit,” Ursuline coach Sean Durkin said.

Disappointment: Durkin said the Irish aren’t satisfied. “We were here for a reason, we’re 24-2 for a reason. All of our kids have pretty good approaches at the plate. We didn’t do anything differently. The kids have shown the ability to battle through adversity. They weren’t dead going into [the eighth].”

Seniors: Durkin said five of his seniors — Donko, shortstop Ryan Strollo, third baseman Harry Finelli, catcher and left fielder Anthony Rohan — played varsity as freshmen and will be missed. “I have a unique closeness with this group,” Durkin said of his seniors. “A lot of them have been with me since they were freshmen. They are a unique bunch — they certainly rank up there with some of my favorite personalities that I’ve coached.” Of Donko, Durkin said, “He has great physical talent but his biggest assets are his mind and his competitiveness. He’s fierce, he’s a loose, fun-loving kid but when he gets out there he has a bulldog mentality. We’d never be afraid to go to battle with him.”

Tom Williams