Burnsville, MN — There was a buzz of excitement at Alimagnet Park on Thursday afternoon as the TV crew was set up for local TV, the weather was sunny and warm(er), and the Burnsville boys had an opportunity to knock off the #7 ranked team in the state, the Eagan Wildcats. It turned out to be a tough, low scoring South Suburban battle, as most are, but Eagan prevailed 5-3. After 2 scoreless innings, starting pitcher Blake Schmeling ran into some turbulence in the 3rd inning. 2 walks and 2 singles started the inning, along with some wild pitches led to 3 Eagan runs. Any additional damage was halted by a nice play at shortstop by Kade Bowar, cutting down a runner at home plate, followed by a big strikeout of the cleanup hitter by Blake, and a soft liner tracked down by Bowar. Blake struck out 3 in his 3 innings of work. The Blaze bats were kept in check until the 4th inning, finally getting to the Eagan righthander Danish. Asher Giese drew a walk, Ethan Voss singled up the middle to score Giese, and Luke Trussell drew a walk. Connor Quimby then reached on a throwing error by the shortstop, which brought in Voss. The inning drew Burnsville within 1 run of Eagan, at 3-2. Owen Geegan relieved Schmeling in the 4th, and he baffled hitters again, as he's done in the past. He gave up a run in the 6th to make the score 4-2, but otherwise went 3 innings, giving up just 1 hit, no walks, and had 3 punch outs. Bowar pitched the top of the 7th, yielding 1 run on a drag bunt, a wild pitch on a strikeout, and a base hit. Bowar did strike out 2 in the inning to limit the damage. The Blaze mounted one last rally in the bottom of the 7th, trying to claw back from the 5-2 deficit. Bowar led off with a walk, moved to 2nd on a balk, and to third on a Jackson Kieffer ground out. After a Ben Meuser walk, the tying run came to plate in Jonah Dawson, who grounded out to short to score Bowar. Unfortunately that was the extent of the scoring for the Blaze, losing 5-3. The Blaze had 4 hits on the game, 2 from Ethan Voss, and 1 each from Kieffer and Quimby. The Blaze played errorless ball and only struck out 3 times on the game. Positives to take away against a top 10 team in the state. These tough times will lead to tough young men - adversity that will hopefully lead to a better second half of the season, and more importantly a run in Sections. Burnsville takes on #4 ranked Farmington on Monday at 4:30 at Alimagnet.