A year ago, Ian Irps was a member of the pitching staff at Bradley-Bourbonnais, hardly finding the opportunity to swing a bat.

Fast forward a year, back at the same Bishop McNamara school he attended his freshman and sophomore years, it was Irps’ bat that came up clutch Thursday.

With two on and one out in the bottom of the seventh of a Chicagoland Christian Conference game against Hope Academy, a game that the umpires had stated would be suspended for darkness after the seventh inning, Irps skied a ball to right center field that appeared to get lost in the dark sky.

It skimmed off the glove of Eagles right fielder Josiah Willis, prompting Callaghan O’Connor to scoot around from second and slide safely into home and give the Fightin’ Irish a 6-5 senior night baseball win to remember.

“When I came back here, we were young and coach said we need seniors in the outfield, we need leaders,” said Irps, who’s settled into a right fielder role when not on the mound. “Coach has asked us all week, ‘Are you a player or are you a gamer?’ In that moment I felt like I was a gamer.”

In just their third year as Chicagoland Christian Conference rivals, it hasn’t taken long for the rivalry to sizzle between a pair of teams that split each of their first two season series in 2024 and 2025. That led to an emotionally fueled start to a game that saw both teams trade first-inning runs before the Eagles plated three in the second with just one hit out of the infield.

Irish starter Nick Pignatiello locked in after that second inning in which the Eagles gathered their runs on a groundout, an error by Pignatiello and a walk. He allowed two earned runs on seven hits, five walks and five strikeouts in four innings and sophomore Griffin Meier tossed a perfect fifth.

And after Meier’s perfect fifth, the Irish bats came to life with two outs in the bottom of the frame. Braylon Ricketts roped an RBI single down the line that scored Coen Demack, and after stealing second and taking third on a wild pitch, scored when Gavin Jones reached on an error that tied things 4-4.

After Jones stole second, Irps hit his first go-ahead single that drove Jones in. After a two-out, bases loaded walk in the top of the seventh stretched the game out, Irps delivered again.

O’Connor delivered a hit to open the inning, and after Ricketts fouled a bunt for his third strike, Jones walked to bring Irps back to the dish, with the senior taking the first offering he saw for the winning hit.

“I’m right back where I belong,” Irps said. “We’ve got a special group here. Different grades, but the love, the bonds, it feels like we’ve been together for years.”

Thursday’s win for the Irish (12-5, 7-2 Chicagoland Christian) helped keep them in the logjam near the top of the conference standings, where Wheaton Academy leads with a 9-0 conference mark. And getting it on senior day against a rival like the Eagles (11-8, 3-5) was just an added bonus.

“It means a lot, especially against a good team like Hope, a conference opponent we’ve always split with through my years,” O’Connor, a four-year starter, said. “I’m just super glad we won though for Ian, for Coen, for [Logan] Popovich, for me obviously. For all of us seniors it’s a great day to win.”

Irps and Ricketts each went 2 for 4 with a pair of RBIs, with Ricketts scoring a run. O’Connor was 1 for 3 with a walk and two runs, and earned the relief win after allowing an earned run on a hit, three walks and four strikeouts in two innings. Demack singled and scored.

“I’m really excited for the kids, especially our seniors,” Irish coach Aaron Fuerst said. “It’s a good group, and just to battle back like that in that kind of fashion and come back late to win the game, I’m just really excited for them.”

The teams will conclude their two-game set at Hope on Friday before the Irish begin next week with a crucial two-game slate with Wheaton Academy Monday.