Eureka Falls Just Short Against Greenville at SLIAC Tournament, 7-6

CLAYTON, Mo. – The Eureka baseball team fell just short of earning a chance to continue its stay at the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday.

Greenville broke a 6-6 tie in the eighth inning and secured a 7-6 victory over the Red Devils in a SLIAC Tournament elimination game at Clayton High School.

Fresh off his All-SLIAC First Team recognition on Friday, Jimmy Peterson (Bloomington, Ill./Homeschooled) went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBIs.

Dylan Hill (Steeleville, Ill./Steeleville) also had hits and an RBI. Karter Hostetler (Morton, Ill./Morton) and Jelby Cheramie (Lockport, La./South Laforche) both had doubles.

Charles Mangold (Eureka, Ill./Eureka), who has been hurt for most of the spring, contributed an RBI single in only his second game in the lineup for the Red Devils this season.  

Braden Cross (Clinton, Ill./Clinton) and Austin Davis (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) each contributed a hit as well.

The Panthers put Eureka in an early hole, when they notched four runs on five hits and chased EC starter Jared Smith (Henry, Ill./Henry-Senachwine) from the game in the first inning.

The Red Devils, however, quickly responded with a four-run rally in the second inning. It started with a leadoff double by Hostetler. Two batters later, Alex Barney (Sheldon, Ill./Milford) was hit by a pitch and Cheramie reached on an error to load the bases.

Mangold then put the team on the board with an RBI single to right field. Peterson doubled to drive in two more and Hill singled to tie the game at 4-4, but the freshman was thrown out at second base to end the inning.

Greenville got one back to regain the lead in the bottom half and extended the lead to two in the following inning.

It stayed that way until Peterson singled with two runners in scoring position and tied the game at 6-6.

The Panthers went down in order in the seventh, but the team manufactured what ended up being the game-winning run in the eighth off two hits and an RBI groundout.

Cheramie doubled with two outs in the Red Devils' last stand in the ninth, but a pop-out ended the inning.

Freshman pitcher Ryan Bredeson (Washington, Ill./Washington) scattered three runs on seven hits over 7 2/3 innings in relief for the Red Devils and struck out without walking a single batter.

Eureka (6-28) completed the 2021 season with six wins and a mountain of learning experiences. Facing an unprecedented string of circumstances that stubbornly conspired to keep the Red Devils from having their full squad on the field at the same time, the team consistently showed resilience and potential for a stable future.