Rosemount, MN — On a beautiful sun splashed afternoon in Rosemount, our Burnsville boys battled and eventually fell 3-2 to the Irish. Sure, the end result was another 1 run loss, the 5th such loss on the season, but there were many more positive things to focus on than the final score. The Blaze jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first, as catcher Jackson Kieffer lined an 0-2 pitch to left for a single, advanced to 2nd on a passed ball, and scored when shortstop Kade Bowar lined a fastball to right center to score Kieffer. On the mound, senior Cole Voss started the game striking out the side in the first inning. He had a no-no going into the 5th inning in this one, conjuring up images of the last varsity game played here at Rosemount two years ago, when then junior Sean Floresch pitched a no-hitter against the Irish. Donning the same black jerseys Floresch and the boys wore in '19, Cole had some good stuff cooking. His own throwing error on a bunt brought in one run in the 2nd, but he pitched his way out of the jam leaving runners on 2nd and 3rd. The no-no was broken up in the 5th inning, with a lead off single that scored on a double to right center, making it 2-1 Irish. Cole ended up pitching 5 innings, giving up the 2 runs (1 earned), 2 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 8. The left side of the infield flashed leather all game, as 3rd baseman Asher Giese and shortstop Bowar made some great plays keeping the Blaze within striking distance. Junior Connor Quimby finished up on the mound for the visitors, pitching 1 inning, giving up a run on a wind blown pop up, a swinging bunt, a walk, and a wild pitch. Down 3-1, the Blaze bats were quiet until the 7th inning when a rally got started pretty quickly off of closer Easton Richter, a D1 commit to St. Louis U. Senior DH Nick Hughes led off with a 4 pitch walk, and Giese followed with another walk . Senior pinch hitter Blake Widness followed with a hard hit grounder to second that took a bad hop and went into centerfield for a base hit, loading the bases with no outs. After back to back strikeouts, Kieffer walked to bring in a run, and the Blaze within one run. With two strikes, Ben Meuser then hit a hard grounder to the third baseman, who knocked it down, and threw a bullet to first to nip Meuser at first, and end the game. The Blaze hitters were led by Bowar, who was 1 for 2, with an RBI, walk and a stolen base. Kieffer was 1 for 3 with a run, RBI and walk. Quimby was 1 for 2, and Widness 1 for 1. The Blaze are back in action again tomorrow night in a home game against Eagan at 4:30.