Eureka Baseball Falls to MUW Late in Season Opener, 7-3
JACKSON, Miss. – The Eureka baseball team dropped its season opener down south against Mississippi University for Women 7-3 on Friday.
The Red Devils held a 3-0 lead through the first six innings, but MUW evened the score with three runs on three hits in the seventh inning to even the score, then tacked on four more on four hits and an error in the seventh.
Eureka put up three runs on seven hits in the first game of the year.
In his Red Devil debut, Braden Cox (Washington, Ill./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk College) went 2-for-3, scored two runs and drew a walk.
In his first game for the team in two years, senior Mason Diederich (Washington, Ill./Washington) went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Another newcomer, Lane Marlow (Camp Point, Ill./Camp Point Central/Roosevelt) posted a hit and drove in a run in his EC debut. Karter Hostetler (Morton, Ill./Morton) and Caleb Wilson (Houma, La./Covington Christian) each contributed a hit as well.
Eureka got on the board for the first time this season in the second inning, when Marlow delivered a sac fly with two on to score Cox, who led off with a single. In the next at-bat, Austin Davis (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) knocked an RBI groundout to short to make it to 2-0.
The Red Devils scored again in the sixth inning on an RBI single up the middle to score Cox, who reached on an error and moved to second on a walk drawn by Hostetler.
Sophomore southpaw Ryan Bredeson (Washington, Ill./Washington) pitched 6 1/3 innings and successfully retired his first 15 batters.
He conceded a pair of singles in the sixth inning, but got out of it with a strikeout and a groundout, then got into a little bit of trouble in the seventh and exited after giving up a couple of runs. He struck out three and allowed three runs on five hits.
Diederich took his place in the seventh inning and struck out four while conceding four runs on three hits in 2 2/3 innings.
The Red Devils (0-1) will turn around and take on the host team Millsaps 8-3. When they faced the Majors at the Millsaps Invitational two years ago, Eureka came out on top 12-1.