Eureka Closes Regular Season with 9-4 Victory over Elmhurst
EUREKA – The Eureka baseball team closed the 2023 regular season with a 9-4, non-conference triumph over Elmhurst at Henry Sand Field on Tuesday evening.
The Red Devils have now won six of the last eight games heading into the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament next week.
After delivering both pitching and walk-off home run heroics in Eureka's doubleheader sweep of Westminster on Saturday, Mike Dunne (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Lincoln Land) turned in another strong performance.
The sophomore southpaw pitched six strong innings, allowing zero earned runs on just two hits and two walks while fanning seven batters. Three of his six innings were 1-2-3 innings.
Right-handed senior Tate Stone (Washington, Ill./Washington) also put in some good work on the mound, notching four strikeouts and only conceding a pair of runs on two hits and two walks.
At the plate, the Red Devils tallied 13 hits, including six doubles, each one a by a different player.
In the middle of the order, Nick Ruleivsh (Addieville, Ill./Okawville) went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI. At the bottom of the order, Garrett Flaagan (Eagle, Ill./Eagle Valley/Williston State) went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and at the top, David Hidden (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) contributed a pair of hits, including a double as well.
Eureka got off to a nice start in the first inning.
After Hidden and Cole Tanner (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Knox) drew walks in the 1 and 3 spots, Rulevish drove in a run with an RBI double to left field, and Chase Ulrich (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria/Illinois Central College) doubled to right to bring in two more.
The Red Devils then manufactured a pair of run sin the second to extend the lead to five runs.
Brenden Eigenbrod (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln/Lincoln College) produced a sacrifice fly RBI to score Flaagan, who led off with a double, Tanner doubled, Rulevish singled to drive in the fifth run.
Elmhurst got on the board with an unearned run in the fourth and added another unearned run in the sixth to make it 5-2.
Tanner answered with a SAC fly RBI in the sixth, and Elmhurst's Michael Campanaro homered in the seventh, the Red Devils came back with another three-run rally. It featured an RBI double by Braden Cox (Washington, Ill./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk), and RBI singles by Nathan Garard (Gibson City, Ill./Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley) and Flaagan.
After Stone retired the side in the eighth, the Blue Jays threatened again in the ninth.
They loaded the bases, then scored again on an RBI fielder's choice, but Stone closed the door on a comeback by catching Jaden Mitchell looking.
Eureka (12-23) has qualified for the SLIAC Tournament for the second straight year and only the third time in program history.
The sixth-seeded Red Devils will play in a SLIAC Tournament quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday. Who and where they play will be determined by how the other teams in the field finish this week.
