Red Devils to Open SLIAC Tournament at Spalding
LOUISVILLE, KY. – The Eureka baseball team has earned the chance to compete in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament for only the second time in program history.
On Tuesday, the Red Devils (16-21, 7-13 SLIAC) will take on Spalding (24-16, 15-5 SLIAC) in the SLIAC Tournament quarterfinals in Louisville at 3 p.m. CT.
Last year, when every team in the league automatically qualified for the tournament due to COVID rules, Eureka fell just short against Webster 5-2 and Greenville 7-6. The 2010 Red Devils lost to Webster 8-5 before getting eliminated by Greenville, 4-3.
With a win over the Golden Eagles, this 2022 Red Devils can become the only Eureka squad to come away from the SLIAC Tournament with a W.
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The Eureka program has come a long way since last May.
The 2021 season was notable for its steadily increasing number of injuries, inexperienced players on the field and rough results. But, after some key additions to the roster and a promising fall and winter of offseason work, the Red Devils believed they were ready to take a significant step forward this year.
"There's no reason we can't compete 3-through-6 (in the SLIAC)," EC head coach Jerry Rashid said before the season began, "and that's what our goal is."
That is exactly what they did. This spring, Eureka finished in the top six in the conference and took games away from two of the top five teams that finished ahead.
After a strong start to the year in non-conference play, the Red Devils won their first two league series of the season before hosting preseason No. 2 Spalding in early April.
Due to rain, the series took place on a Sunday-Monday instead of Saturday-Sunday. On Sunday, the Golden Eagles got the best of the Red Devils, taking Game 1 8-3 and coming out on top in a closer Game 2, 8-6. But, on Monday, the Red Devils flipped the script with a tense and dramatic 2-1 win over Spalding that wasn't decided until an emphatic, game-clinching strikeout.
The win was a feather in the cap for an improving program and marked the Red Devils' first victory over the Golden Eagles since 2014.
Eureka hasn't hit that emotional high since then, but the Red Devils enter Tuesday's contest knowing it can beat Spalding if its pitching and defense are as sharp as it was that day at Henry Sand Field.
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The Golden Eagles enter the tournament with a .309 team batting average – 10 points higher than EC. The team is plating 8.5 runs per game on the season and has tallied a league-high 194 in SLIAC play, edging Fontbonne and Webster by two.
It also leads the league in walks with 261 on the season and 134 in league play – far more than the second-ranked team in either category. Likewise, Spalding holds a league-high .433 on-base percentage.
Spalding is in the top three in every offensive category except for home runs, in which they rank fourth with 27, two more than EC.
Jacob Spanyer is batting .366 and is second in the league in home runs with 10 and fourth in the league with 44 RBI. Michael Newsom leads the team with 22 stolen bases and three triples. Michael Speck (35 walks), Spanyer (31 walks) and Newsom (30 walks) make up the top three in the league in walks.
On top of that, freshman Sam Pinho – who only has 57 at-bats and didn't play in the Eureka series – has come on strong in the last month of the season, hitting .404 with 23 hits in 19 games.
Spalding's pitching staff, meanwhile, features impressive depth, too. Clay Burton owns a league-low 1.91 ERA. Peyton Hood has a 6-3 record with a 3.52 ERA and is fifth in the league in wins. Aaron Blake, the program's all-time save leader, has notched four saves this spring and is averaging 10.52 strikeouts per inning. Garrett Matthews leads the team with 50 strikeouts in eight starts.
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The Red Devils are slashing .299/.394/.424 as a team – good enough for fourth in the league in batting average and on-base percentage and fifth in slugging percentage. They're averaging almost seven runs per game – good for fifth in the league.
Sophomore Karter Hostetler has climbed his way into the top five in batting average in the league. He is hitting .398, while junior transfer Braden Cox is just behind at .394 while driving in 49 runs and launching nine home runs. Cox is second in RBI behind Fontbonne's Matt Helm (52), and is tied with teammate Dylan Hill for third-most homers in the league.
Austin Davis (.326), Caleb Wilson (.323), David Hidden (.309) and Hill (.308) are all hitting above .300. Wilson is also fifth in the league in stolen bases with 21. Senior Jimmy Peterson – a First Team All-SLIAC utility player in 2021 – follows Cox with 32 RBI, and Hostetler is one behind.
On the mound, the Red Devils' pitching staff has a 6.01 team ERA. While the team has seen a handful of players step up and contribute great outings, Eureka has struggled for consistency.
Still, junior Nathan Garard is second in the league in strikeouts with 64 in 58 innings. He has notched a team-high five wins this spring, including a memorable 14-strikeout, one-hitter in a 7-1 win over Knox.
Versatile senior Mason Diederich has team-low 4.46 ERA while making a team-high 17 pitching appearances this season. Sophomore Trevor Wingard, junior Parker Brodine and freshman Sheldon Geuvens are all under 5 in ERA as well. Garard, Sophomore Ryan Bredeson, Brodine and Wingard have all logged at least 40 innings.
Eureka is fifth in the league in fielding percentage at .953, one point behind the Golden Eagles.
If the Red Devils can pull it off on Tuesday evening, they will get another chance to take on top-seeded Webster on Thursday in O'Fallon, Missouri, at 4 p.m.