Fontbonne Takes First Two Games at Eureka
EUREKA – The Fontbonne baseball team continued its St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference hot streak with a 4-0, 11-2 sweep over Eureka on Friday.
Game 1: Fontbonne 4, Eureka 0
Fontbonne's Nick Glaser improved to 6-1 on the season, holding Eureka scoreless on two runs and zero walks in eight innings while notching 13 strikeouts.
The Griffins tallied nine hits and scored all of their runs in the first half of the game. The visitors got on the board with an unearned run in the first inning, posted a pair of off three hits in the second and scored their fourth and final run off an RBI double by Daniel Youngblood.
Eureka pitcher Nathan Garard (Gibson City, Ill./Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley) didn't have a bad outing in the loss, only giving up three earned runs on eight hits and four walks and fanning seven batters.
The Red Devils didn't have many opportunities to drive in runs.
In the first four innings, the team got on base three times. Twice they had their leadoff batter, Caleb Wilson (Houma, La./Covington Christian) get picked off at first. On the other occasion, Braden Cox (Washington, Ill./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk) doubled and got left stranded.
The following inning, Lane Marlow (Camp Point, Ill./Camp Point Central/Roosevelt) singled and got left stranded. In the ninth, Wilson got on with a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and made it to third on a sac fly by Austin Davis (Eureka, Ill./Eureka). He was left stranded, too.
Game 2: Fonbonne 11, Eureka 2
Unlike the first game, Fontbonne did most of its damage in the second half of Game 2, scoring seven of its 11 runs in the sixth inning or later.
The Griffins didn't overpower the Red Devils for most of the game. They just steadily produced and gradually increased their lead until they were in position to rally late.
Fontbonne scored two unearned runs in the first inning, added a third run off an RBI single by Carter Lee in the fourth and increased the lead to four runs with a solo home run by Matt Helm in the fifth.
In Eureka pitcher Parker Brodine's (Brimfield, Ill./Elmwood-Brimfield) last inning, he got two quick outs, but Fontbonne subsequently singled, was hit by a pitch and singled again to drive in a run. After a wild pitch, Youngblood scored on a passed ball to make it 6-0.
Brodine threw six innings, conceding three earned runs on eight hits and three walks and had five strikeouts. Sheldon Guevens (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) took over and tossed a scoreless seventh before handing it over to Tate Stone (Washington, Ill./Washington). Stone got into a jam in the eighth but got out of it only giving up one run. In the ninth, however, the Griffins plated four runs on three hits and an error.
Eureka scored its only runs of the day in the seventh after Cox put the ball in play with bases loaded to drive in one and reached on an error that allowed another to score. The Red Devils knocked eight hits and left nine batters stranded in this one.
Cox went 2-for-5 with the team's lone RBI. Karter Hostetler (Morton, Ill./Morton) went 2-for-4, while Davis, Dylan Hill (Steeleville, Ill./Steeleville), Lane Marlow (Camp Point, Ill./Camp Point Central) and David Hidden (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) each had a hit as well.
Up Next
On Saturday, the Red Devils (15-13, 7-6 SLIAC) will conclude the three-game series against the Griffins (20-8, 12-1) at Henry Sand Field at 12 p.m. Eureka will be celebrating its Senior Day.
