Eureka Rallies Past Blackburn in 10th Inning, 5-2
CARLINVILLE, Ill. – The Eureka baseball team rallied past Blackburn with a three-run 10th inning and secured a 5-2, St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Beavers on Saturday.
Tied 2-2 after nine innings, the Red Devils came away with three runs on four hits, including a two-run double by Braden Cox (Washington, Ill./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk) that broke the tie. After a pitching change, Colin DeLaere (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) delivered a sac fly RBI to give the Red Devils a three-run advantage.
Blackburn's Ashton Harvey doubled to lead off the bottom of the 10th, then Eureka ace Nathan Garard (Gibson City, Ill./Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley) got two groundouts and a strikeout to put the Beavers away.
Garard pitched all 10 innings in the win, holding the Beavers to one earned run on eight hits and fanning 10 batters along the way. The senior right-hander didn't concede a single walk.
The Red Devils tallied 15 hits on the day, with Cole Tanner (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Knox) and Chase Ulrich (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria/Illinois Central College) each contributing three hits and David Hidden (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) and Nick Rulevish (Addieville, Ill./Okawville) each coming up with two.
Blackburn's Adam Holm put the Beavers on the board in the third inning after tripling and scoring on wild pitch. That was the only run of the game by either team for the first six innings.
In the seventh, however, Eureka manufactured a pair of runs to go ahead.
Ulrich led off with a single and moved to second on a sac bunt by Cox. After the Beavers' first pitching change of the day, DeLaere came up to the plate and singled to right field to drive in Ulrich and make it 1-1.
Austin Davis (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) then drew a walk, and Hidden singled to the pitcher to give the Red Devils a 2-1 lead. The Beavers went down in order in the seventh, but they managed to tie the game with an unearned run in the eighth.
In the ninth, Davis and Hidden both came up with singles. This time, though, Davis was picked off and Hidden was left stranded. Garard retired the side and sent the game to extra innings with back-to-back strikeouts.
Eureka got what turned out to be the game-winning rally started with three straight singles with one out, courtesy of Rulevish, Karter Hostetler (Morton, Ill./Morton) and Garrett Flaagan (Eagle, Ill./Eagle Valley/Williston State).
On Sunday, the Red Devils (7-21, 5-11 SLIAC) will turn around and face Beavers (7-24, 3-13) in a 1 p.m. doubleheader.