Notebook: Red Devils Ready to Ramp Up League Schedule

EUREKA, Ill. -- The Eureka College softball team will continue its busiest stretch of the 2018 season with eight games against four different opponents this week, including three St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheaders on the road in which the Red Devils will travel nearly 1,000 miles in a span of five days.

 

 

The Red Devils will begin the week with a 2 p.m. league doubleheader Tuesday at preseason SLIAC favorite Greenville. Eureka will follow with a twin bill Thursday at Iowa Wesleyan 1:30 p.m. and a Saturday doubleheader at Fontbonne in St. Louis at 1 p.m. Eureka is scheduled to close the week by playing its first games on campus in 2018 on Sunday in a 1 p.m. non-conference doubleheader against Rose-Hulman.

 

The Red Devils split a SLIAC doubleheader last Sunday at Spalding. Eureka rolled to an 8-1 win in the opener before the Golden Eagles rallied for a 4-3 walk-off win in game two. Kerrigan Dura had three hits in the opener while Morgan Osborn and Gabby Wood added two hits each to drive a Eureka lineup that scored eight runs on eight hits. Erin Smith allowed nine hits – all singles – and walked only one to improve her 2018 record to 6-0. Wood hit safely twice for EC in the nightcap, including her first career home run in the fourth inning. Allison Cagley also had two hits.

 

Last Friday's non-conference twin bill at Knox was postponed a second time due to sub-freezing temperatures in Galesburg. A makeup date between the Red Devils and Prairie Fire has yet to be determined.

 

AT GREENVILLE (Tuesday DH, 2 p.m.)

Eureka will begin the week with two big tests Tuesday at reigning SLIAC Tournament champion and 2018 preseason league favorite Greenville. The Panthers are 5-12 overall and 3-2 in conference action to claim fifth place in the league standings. GU has split SLIAC doubleheaders with Webster and Spalding and also won the opener of a doubleheader with MacMurray on March 28 before game two was postponed.

 

Greenville boasts a .305 team batting average through its first 17 games, led by a .368 mark from freshman Kendall Farr. Five different GU pitchers have logged at least 15.1 innings in 2018 and staff combines for a 6.20 ERA. Juniors Caitie Opp and Cayla Speaks are the Panthers' first two options with 23.1 innings pitched apiece. Opp leads the staff with three wins and 12 total strikeouts.

 

Buddy Foster, a 1991 graduate of Southeast Missouri State, is in his second season as head coach at Greenville. He owns a 29-29 record at GU and a five-year career record of 92-102 that includes a three-year stint at NCAA Division I Bradley from 2006 through 2008. 

 

Greenville won both games of a doubleheader against Eureka last April, but the Red Devils own a 26-21 record in their last 47 games against GU since 1995. The two schools have split 24 games in Greenville in that time frame, but the Panthers have won five of the last six on their home field over EC since 2014.

 

AT IOWA WESLEYAN (Thursday DH, 1:30 p.m.)

Eureka will take its first road trip to the state of Iowa since 2016 when the Red Devils visit Iowa Wesleyan Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. The Tigers are 1-13 overall and 0-2 against SLIAC opponents, securing their lone victory of the season versus Gallaudet on March 14 in Titusville, Fla.

 

The Tigers struggle at the plate, ranking ninth in the league with a .207 batting average, a .272 on-base percentage and a .239 slugging percentage. Freshman Serena Almodovar is the lineup's top hitter with a .208/.308/.351 line in 40 plate appearances. IWU has used four pitchers this spring for a 7.95 team ERA and has turned to senior ace Samantha McIlwain for 30.0 of its first 78.1 innings.

 

Mike Hampton has been at the helm of the IWU softball program for a quarter century. The 1972 IWU graduate has guided the Tigers to more than 600 wins and seven NAIA Tournament berths since his arrival in 1994.

 

The Red Devils and Tigers split last season's doubleheader. IWU has won five of eight meetings with the Red Devils since the Tigers joined the league prior to the 2014 season.

 

AT FONTBONNE (Saturday DH, 1 p.m.)

The Red Devils will take their first of two trips to St. Louis in 2018 when EC travels to Fontbonne Saturday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader. The Griffins, who will host Greenville Wednesday, dropped 14 consecutive non-conference games to begin the season. FBU has since recovered, putting up a perfect 6-0 SLIAC record to own first place in the league standings.

 

Fontbonne has a .330 team batting average. Senior Courtney Kedroski hits .417 in 72 at-bats, one of five Griffins with at least 50 at-bats to hit .300 or better. Four pitchers combine for a 6.23 ERA in 132.2 innings, led by Diamond Thomas's 4.54 mark.

 

Casey Cromwell is in her first season as head coach. She played collegiately at NCAA Division Fort Wayne and also served the Mastodons as an assistant coach.

 

Fontbonne has been a long-time power in the SLIAC, winning eight consecutive league championships from 2009 through 2016. Eureka swept last season's doubleheader from the Griffins to end a 20-game skid in the all-time series that dated back to the 2009 season. Fontbonne is 23-4 overall against EC since 2000.

 

VS. ROSE-HULMAN (Sunday DH, 1 p.m.)

After two previous postponements, Eureka and Rose-Hulman will try for a third time to play their non-conference doubleheader on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Eureka. The Fightin' Engineers are 5-11 this spring, 0-4 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and have dropped eight in a row since March 2. RHIT is scheduled to play doubleheaders against MacMurray, Hanover and Mount St. Joseph before visiting Eureka on Sunday.

 

Longtime RHIT head coach Brian Shearer is in his 16th season. The Indiana State graduate has won 225 games in Terre Haute and led the Fightin' Engineers to conference championships in 2005 and 2008.

 

Eureka has never played Rose-Hulman in softball. The Red Devils have never played any of the nine teams in the Greenwood, Ind.-based HCAC.