Owls Gets Edge Over Red Devils, 11-10

COLUMBUS, Miss. – The Eureka baseball team came up just short at the Mississippi University for Women on Saturday, falling 11-10.

The Red Devils notched 14 hits, including five extra-base hits and a season-high three home runs, but they couldn't close the gap and get the edge over the Owls in the end.

Chase Ulrich (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria/Illinois Central College), Hayden McKenna (Sheridan, Ill./ Marquette Academy) and Sam Buduris (Shorewood, Ill./Minooka Community/McKendree) all went yard for the Red Devils.

Ulrich put EC on the board with a two-run homer in the second inning after MUW took a 3-0 lead in the first. It was his first bomb of the season and his fourth as a Red Devil.

The Owls plated two more in the bottom half to make it 5-2, and then McKenna posted his third homer of the year --  another two-run blast –  in the third to make it a one-run game in the third inning. Once again, though, the home team got one back in the bottom half to make it 6-4.

Eureka evened the score in the fifth inning with a pair of runs off two hits and a throwing error. McKenna led off with a single, Ulrich doubled to bring him in and later scored on the aforementioned throwing error.

MUW broke the tie with two runs on four hits and a sac fly RBI in the bottom of the fifth, but the Red Devils didn't go away. Instead, they tied the game for a second time with an RBI double by Bururis and a sac fly rbi, courtesy of McKenna.

The Owls just kept on finding answers, though. The home team responded with three runs on four hits and an error to make it 11-8.

EC's last two-run dinger of the day came courtesy of Buduris in the eighth, and it ended up being the last run of the contest. The Red Devils left a runner stranded in the eighth and ended the ninth with the bases juiced.

McKenna finished the day 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and three RBI. Buduris went 2-for-4 with a homer, a double and three RBI.  

Ulrich also went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and three RBI.

Gabe Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington Community/Mount Mercy) and Nick Rulevish (Addieville, Ill./Okawville) each had a pair of stolen bases. Nickolas Cartmil (Burleson, Texas/Burleson/Bacone) and Buduris had one as well.

After dropping three straight in Mississippi, the Red Devils (13-10, 6-2 SLIAC) will look to bounce back with a SLIAC doubleheader at Greenville (7-18, 1-5 SLIAC) on Tuesday at 3 p.m.