Eight different players in the Bishop McNamara lineup drove in at least one run in the Fightin’ Irish’s 15-0 All-City win over Kankakee at the 315 Sports Park on Saturday.

The win for the Fightin’ Irish (3-1) put them in position to defend their All-City title against Bradley-Bourbonnais later in the afternoon while the loss for the Kays (0-5) followed up a 28-0 defeat at the hands of the Boilermakers on Friday.

Bishop McNamara senior Callaghan O’Connor got the scoring started with an RBI single in the bottom of the first and ended the game with a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth.

He said seeing so many players chip in was nice, but not surprising with how hard every player on the team prepares for each game.

“We just trust the work and trust in the preparation,” O’Connor said. “That’s a big thing for us. Getting all the work in when no one is looking is another part that helps a lot.”

O’Connor’s single was followed by a run-scoring error and a two-run single from Nolan Smith before the first inning ended.

The Irish added seven more runs in the second, six of which came with no outs, and two more in the third on a double from Smith.

Coen Demack singled with one out in the fourth and Nick Pignatiello reached on an error to set the table for O’Connor’s game-ending double.

Both Demack and O’Connor went 3 for 4 in the game, with Demack driving in one run and scoring three and O’Connor driving in three runs and scoring one.

Smith was 2 for 4 with a team-high four RBIs while Michael Clark was 2 for 3 with an RBI and three runs.

Logan Popvich struck out five batters in two innings while Ian Irps worked around five walks to strike out three batters in 1 ⅔ innings of no-hit ball. Clark came in to get the final out of the fourth.

O’Connor, Demack, Irps and Popvich are the only seniors on this year’s team.

Sophomore Gavin Jones, who scored two runs as a courtesy runner Saturday, and a large and talented junior class fill out the Irish roster, bringing varying levels of varsity experience.

“Their hard work and dedication to the craft, it’s awesome to see,” O’Connor said. “We had some guys last year, like [Braylon] Ricketts and [Preston] Payne, that were both up and helped set the tone with some of those juniors. That class is really talented. They just keep working and getting better every day.”

A unique aspect of All-City baseball is the familiarity the players have with each other, with some players even having a chance to see these rivalries from multiple sides.

Irps, who spent last season at Bradley-Bourbonnais, had a matchup with Kankakee’s Devin Arbour, who played for McNamara last season, in the top of the fourth, with the familiar foes exchanging a few looks and words.

Bishop McNamara head coach Aaron Fuerst, in his first season in the role, said its great to see the way the players bond over these games.

“The nice thing about All-City is all these kids grew up playing together,” he said. “On different sides and different schools, but the friendships are there. And the rivalries are always there, so I think that’s what makes this fun.”

For Kankakee, these All-City games were a good chance for the young Kays to face some solid competition early in the season.

Johnny Short and EJ Hazelett each had a hit Saturday while Arbour walked twice and Bryce Deany, Bryce Arceneaux and Mike Prude each walked once.

The 315 Sports Park, in addition to being the new home for Bradley-Bourbonnais, will be the home for the Kays this season after storms earlier in the month rendered their home field unplayable. Bishop McNamara is also temporarily at the 315 while its home field recovers from those same storms.

Kankakee head coach Nick Crowe said that the Kays are becoming affiliated with their new facilities and happy to have a new home.

“We’re very fortunate to be out here,” he said. “[315 director Jim Byrne] has been nothing but great to us. He’s catered to everything we need and ask for, and more. To play on fields like this, there’s probably only a few teams in the state that get to play at facilities and fields like this. It’s really special for our guys to experience that.”