Eureka Blanks Knox in Home Opener, 12-0
EUREKA – The Eureka baseball team rolled to a 12-0 victory over Knox in seven innings on a beautiful opening day at Henry Sand Field on Wednesday.
Pitchers Nathan Garard (Gibson City, Ill./Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley), Mike Dunne (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Lincoln Land) and Ryan Bredeson (Washington, Ill./Washington) combined for a three-hit shutout, racking up 14 strikeouts along the way.
Dunne, a sophomore transfer from Lincoln Land Community College, recorded the win in his Red Devil debut. He took over for Garard in the fourth and threw three hitless innings while notching seven strikeouts and only walking two batters.
Garard only allowed two hits, struck out five batters and walked two in the first three innings, and Bredeson came on in the seventh and retired three of four batters and struck out two to close it out.
At the plate, the Red Devils scored 12 runs on eight hits, five walks and three Knox errors.
Eureka got off to a nice start, with the home team plating two runs on three hits in the first inning. Nick Rulevish (Addieville, Ill./Okawville) led off with a single and stole second, Braden Cox (Washington, Ill./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk) singled to center to put runners on the corners and Chase Ulrich (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria/ICC) drove in the first run of the 2023 season with an RBI double to center field.
Then, after Austin Davis (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) walked to load the bases, Cox scored on an RBI groundout by Garrett Flaagan (Eagle, Ill./Eagle Valley/Williston State) to make it 2-0.
Two innings later, with a runner on base, Davis smashed his first career home run off the scoreboard to make it 4-0.
In the fifth inning, Eureka took advantage of some pitching woes for Knox and scored two more runs. After Rulevish's second leadoff single of the day, Knox's Nicholas Stan hit two batters, conceded a run on a wild pitch and walked in another. Cole Tanner's (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Knox) bases-loaded walk made it 6-0.
The following inning, the Red Devils capitalized on three Knox errors and got RBI singles from Flaagan and Tanner to double the lead and give them a chance to end it early. Bredeson and the Eureka defense did exactly that.
Six Red Devils recorded at least one hit in the win, four drove in a pair of runs and two notched multi-hit games to open the season.
Ulrich, a junior transfer from ICC, went 2-for-4 with a double, drove in a pair of runs and had two stolen bases in his Red Devil debut. Rulevish produced a pair of leadoff singles and a stolen base.
Flaagan and Tanner each had a hit and two RBI. Cox had a hit and an RBI, as well. In addition to his first long ball, Davis contributed three walks.
Tanner, a junior transfer from Knox, had the Red Devils' defensive highlight of the day, running down a long fly ball and making a tough snag in the warning track in right-center at the beginning of the fourth inning.
Wednesday was Eureka's first opening-day victory in three years, and the team's first opening-day shutout since 2019.
The Red Devils (1-0) will next take on Central (Iowa) and Olivet (Mich.) in Jacksonville on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively.
