Red Devils’ Win Streak Ends at MUW, 6-4, 6-0
COLUMBUS, Miss. – The Eureka baseball team's eight-game winning streak came to an end with a pair of St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference losses at the Mississippi University for Women on Friday.
The Owls handed the Red Devils their first conference loss of the spring with a 6-4 win in Game 1 and then held them scoreless for the first time all year with a 6-0 win in Game 2.
Game 1: MUW 6, Eureka 4
The home team tallied the first five runs of the game on Friday, putting the Red Devils in the familiar position of having scrap for a comeback.
After only putting runners on in one of the first six innings, Eureka finally broke through with two runs on four hits in the seventh inning.
After Nickolas Cartmill (Burleson, Texas/Burleson/Bacone) singled with one out, Sam Buduris (Shorewood, Ill./Minooka Community/McKendree) plated EC's first run of the day with an RBI double to left-center. Mike Dunne (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Lincoln Land) followed that with a single to put runners on the corners for Hayden McKenna (Sheridan, Ill./Marquette Academy), who singled to bring home Buduris and make it 5-2.
The Owls manufactured an insurance run off a sac fly RBI in the eighth, leaving a four-run hole for the Red Devils to dig themselves out of in the ninth.
They came pretty close to doing it again, notching a pair of runs off four hits and two errors and loading the bases with one out. However, after a pitching change, the Owls got a strikeout and a groundout to put the game away.
Cartmill singled, advanced to second on a single by Buduris and scored on a throwing error, and Dunne singled in the next at-bat to make it 6-4 with no outs.
Another come-from-behind surge was in play for the Red Devils. McKenna reached on a fielder's choice, and two batters later, Joshua Frenden (New Port Richey, Fla./River Ridge/Philander Smith) singled to load the bases. After that, though, MUW's Jackson Gantt stranded the runners and got the save.
Buduris and Cartmill each went 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base. Dunne took the loss on the mound after allowing four earned runs on 10 hits and one walk in seven innings. He had four strikeouts.
Game 2: MUW 6, Eureka 0
MUW's Landon Clark and Gnatt combined for a one-hitter in Game 2.
Clark notched seven strikeouts and conceded just one hit and one walk in eight innings, while Gnatt finished it off, allowing one walk in the ninth.
Dunne recorded EC's lone hit of the game. Eureka starting pitcher Brayden Williams (Chouteau, Okla./ Poteau/Bacone) allowed one earned run on four hits and three walks and had four strikeouts in five innings of work.
Up Next
The Red Devils (13-9, 6-2 SLIAC) will look to close out the three-game series strong on Saturday with a 10 a.m. non-conference matchup against the Owls (14-8, 6-2 SLIAC).