Red Devils Complete Sweep of Principia, Extend Win Streak to Four
ELSAH, Ill. – The Eureka baseball team completed a two-game St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sweep of Principia with a 14-1 win on Saturday, then edged the Panthers 4-3 in a non-conference contest.
The Red Devils outscored the home team 26-1 in SLIAC play and improved to 7-4 in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. That's the team's best SLIAC record through 11 games since 2008.
The pair of wins also cemented Eureka's third four-game winning streak of the season.
Game 1: Eureka 14, Principia 1
The Red Devils chalked up a season-high 21 hits, including seven doubles and a home run.
Braden Cox (Washington, Ill./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk) went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI doubles.
David Hidden (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) also went 3-for-4 and contributed a double, and Lane Marlow (Camp Point, Ill./Camp Point Central) went 3-for-3 with a double.
Tate Stone (Washington, Ill./Washington), Jimmy Peterson (Bloomington, Ill./Homeschooled/Monmouth), Karter Hostetler (Morton, Ill./Morton), Dylan Hill (Steeleville, Ill./Steeleville) and Mason Diederich (Washington, Ill./Washington) all recorded multi-hit games, as well.
Hill posted his sixth home run of the season with a two-run bomb in the Red Devils' eight-run fourth inning.
Diederich knocked a two-run double in the third inning; Stone and Peterson also produced doubles.
Eureka got on the board in third inning when Caleb Wilson (Homa, La./Covington Christian) stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. He flew out to center, scoring the first run of the game. On the next at-bat, Davis singled to center to plate a second Eureka run, setting up Cox's RBI double to right.
Diederich's two-run double in third extended the lead to five before the team rallied for eight runs off nine hits and an error. The eventful frame included four doubles.
The team's last run came on an RBI single by Stone in the fifth. Principia scored its lone run of the two-game SLIAC series on a home run in the sixth.
After putting the final touches on Eureka's 2-1 triumph over Spalding on Monday, pitcher Parker Brodine (Brimfield, Ill./Elmwood-Brimfield) tossed five shutout innings en route to his third win of the season. He only conceded two hits and one walk while striking out one walk.
Ryan Bredeson (Washington, Ill./Washington) followed him in the sixth and gave up one hit – the solo home run – before handing the ball to Diederich, who struck out two and retired the side.
Game 2: Eureka 4, Principia 3
The second game of the day was a non-conference contest, which saw the Red Devils' go to their bench for what ended up being something of a pitchers' duel.
Eureka got the win despite only amassing four hits.
Pitcher Trevor Wingard (Decatur, Ill./Meridian) put the Red Devils on the board with an RBI double in the second.
However, two innings later, Principia struck back with a clean three-run rally that made it 3-1.
The maroon and gold got two back in the bottom half after Kelton O'Grady (Camp Verde, Arizona/Camp Verde) scored on a wild pitch and Wingard scored on a sac fly RBI by Hidden.
The team didn't regain the lead again, though, until Peterson scored an unearned run following an error in the sixth. That ended up being enough to secure the win.
Freshman Sheldon Geuvens (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) pitched five innings, conceding three runs on four hits and two walks while striking out four. He gave the ball to Diederich in the sixth and he proceeded to get the win, only giving up one hit and one walk in two innings.
The Red Devils didn't commit a single error in the three games at Princpia.
Up Next
On Tuesday, the Red Devils (15-10) will face Knox (2-12) for the second time this season on the road at 4 p.m. The first time, Garard struck out 14 batters and nearly went the whole way without allowing a hit.