Knox Gets Edge Over Red Devils Late, 12-11
GALESBURG – The Eureka baseball team fell short, 12-11, in a high-scoring, non-conference battle against Knox on Tuesday.
It was a back-and-forth affair that featured four lead changes.
The Red Devils plated a run in each of the first two innings, then Knox tallied six runs in the bottom of the second. Eureka got two back in the third to make it 6-4 before rallying for five more and taking a three-run lead in the fourth.
The visitors extended the lead to four runs in the top of the sixth, but the Prairie Fire responded with three runs in the bottom half.
The Red Devils scored again in the seventh to make it a two-run game with 2 1/2 innings to go. It ended up not being enough, as the home team tied the game in the bottom of the seventh and took the lead for the last time with a solo home run by Chase Thies in the eighth.
Eureka came out on the losing side despite outhitting Knox 16-9. The Red Devils left nine batters on base to Knox's six.
At the plate, Dylan Hill (Steeleville, Ill./Steeleville) went 3-for-5 with a double and his team-high seventh home run of the season. He is now second in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in homers on the season and is the first Red Devil to reach seven in a single season since Ray Vogel in 2017. Hill finished with a team-high four RBI on the night.
Lane Marlow (Camp Point, Ill./Camp Point Central) delivered his first home run of the season in the second inning to give the Red Devils an early 2-0 lead.
Leadoff hitter Caleb Wilson (Houma, La./Covington Christian) and No. 9 hitter Nick Rulevish (Addieville, Ill./Okawville) both went 3-for-5 and scored twice. Wilson swiped a pair of bases and Rulevish stole one.
Jimmy Peterson (Bloomington, Ill./Homeschooled/Monmouth) and Karter Hostetler (Morton, Ill./Morton). Peterson contributed two singles and drove in two runs, while Hostetler posted a double, a single and one RBI.
Braden Cox (Washington, Ill./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk) had a two-run single and an RBI groundout.
Austin Davis (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) produced a base hit. Davis, Cox, Peterson and Charles Mangold (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) all recorded a stolen base.
Pitchers Trevor Wingard (Decatur, Ill./Meridian), David Throw (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove), Ryan Bredeson (Washington, Ill./Washington) and Mason Diederich (Washington, Ill./Washington) combined to notch nine strikeouts and allow seven fewer hits than Knox's staff, but they also conceded four home runs and six walks to the Prairie Fire's two and three.
On Friday, Eureka (15-11, 7-4 SLIAC) will get back to conference play with a home doubleheader against Fontbonne (18-8, 10-1 SLIAC) at noon.