Fantastic finish: Irmo All-Stars use improbable comeback to stay alive in LLWS

The Irmo All-Stars used a dramatic comeback Wednesday to stay alive in the Little League World Series.

Andrew Bogan’s two-run single in the bottom of the seventh lifted Irmo to a 7-6, come-from-behind win over South Dakota in the Little League World Series.

“I’m just thinking get on base, get a hit — anyway I can get on works,” said Andrew Bogan, who was supporting a cowboy hat in the postgame press-conference and is the son of Irmo manager Dave Bogan. “I am very happy that we get to move on one more time, and maybe two more times.”

With the win, the team from South Carolina moved one win away from playing for the LLWS United States bracket championship. The Southeast Region champions will face Nevada at 7 p.m. Thursday. The winner advances to face Connecticut in Saturday’s U.S. finals.

Nevada defeated Irmo, 1-0, on Monday.

Wednesday was Irmo’s second-straight elimination game victory at the LLWS and fourth overall during the summer. Facing elimination, Irmo won its final two games to win the Southeast Region earlier this month.

This time, Irmo trailed 6-1 in the bottom of the seventh after South Dakota scored five in the top of the inning. But as it did in the Southeast Region final, Irmo rallied.

“Just sort of speechless at this point,” Irmo manager Dave Bogan said of his team’s performance.

In the bottom of the seventh, Sutton Gravelle got things started for Irmo with an RBI single that scored Palmer Steele. Then Brayden Gerard doubled to score Ethan Bennett, who walked in the inning, to make it 6-3.

“I just wanted to get on base and have a tiny bit of hope,” said Gerrard, who admitted he wasn’t sure if the team was going to be able to erase the five-run deficit.

Gerrard led Irmo with two hits and an RBI and was part of a strong bottom of the Irmo order that reached base 10 times in the game.

Bubba McQuilkin walked to load the bases. Then back-to-back walks to Preston Ware and Brady Westbrooks pulled Irmo within 6-5.

Bogan then lined a 2-2 pitch and the South Dakota right fielder just missed on a diving attempt, allowing McQuilkin and Ware to score. His hit capped off a wild seventh inning that saw the two teams combine for 11 runs after scoring just two in the first six innings.

Irmo trailed much of the game and was down 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth but Jacob Gibson walked with the bases loaded to tie it and force extra innings. Irmo loaded the bases in the fifth and sixth innings.

Palmer Steele picked up the win, pitching a third of an inning and allowing one unearned run on two hits. Dave Bogan said there is a chance Steele might start on the mound Thursday, and he also might use his son or Ryder Tillitz.

“We’ve got to find a way to piece it together,” he said. “I have confidence that these guys will throw strikes. But they mix it well.”

This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 9:39 PM.

Lou Bezjak

The State

(803) 771-8419

Lou Bezjak is the High School Sports Prep Coordinator for The (Columbia) State and (Hilton Head) Island Packet. He previously worked at the Florence Morning News and had covered high school sports in South Carolina since 2002. Lou is a two-time South Carolina Sports Writer of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Support my work with a digital subscription