Red Devils Blank Fontbonne, Make Program History, 6-0
CLAYTON, Mo. – The Eureka baseball team blanked Fontbonne 6-0 and clinched its first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament victory in program history on Tuesday.
With senior Nathan Garard (Gibson City, Ill./Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley) on the mound, the Red Devils took care of business and came out of every jam they encountered unscathed.
Garard threw 107 pitches over seven innings of shutout baseball, only allowing seven hits and one walk.
"It feels great to be a part of something that hasn't been done in our program's history," Garard said after the win. "The guys are really fired up about it and excited to play more games."
In the eighth, fellow ace Mike Dunne (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Lincoln Land) took over after Fontbonne slugger Matt Helm led off with a single. The Griffins then reached on a walk, a fielder's choice and a single to load the bases, bringing Trey Kueper up to bat.
The Griffins' No. 2 hitter proceeded to chop a dangerous ball to short. Eureka shortstop Nick Rulevish (Addieville, Ill./Okawville) made a sliding stop and flipped it to second baseman Austin Davis (Eureka, Ill./Eureka), who turned and fired it to first baseman Braden Cox (Washington, ll./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk) to complete the inning-ending double play.
The following inning, Dunne retired three of four batters to close the deal. With a bunt groundout, a fly-out to center, a hit batsman and a grounder to Davis at short, it was over, and the Red Devils were celebrating their first SLIAC Tournament win in six tries.
"We talked all week, and we put on anything that I handed out, two things," EC coach Jerry Rashid said. "'Believe and expect victory' – and don't be surprised when it happens.
"And, overall, that's about as complete of a game as we've played all season. We had excellent, dominant pitching, really consistent defense and really good hitting – all of our outs were hard outs today."
The Red Devils tallied six runs on nine hits and capitalized on many of their opportunities throughout the game.
It started in the third inning when David Hidden (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) walked and Rulevish singled to put runners on the corners, and Hidden scored on a passed ball with Chase Ulrich (East Peoria, Ill./Peoria/Illinois Central College) up to the plate. The next batter, Dunne, singled to right field to make it 2-0.
The following inning, Eureka loaded the bases, and Rulevish singled to drive in a run and Ulrich singled to bring in two more.
The Red Devils' sixth and final run came on an RBI single by Demetrius Schupp (La Salle, Ill./St. Bede Academy/Illinois Valley) in the fifth.
Rulevish went 3-for-5 on the day in the No. 3 spot, delivering hits in both of the Red Devils' multi-run innings.
Cox had two hits, leading off the fifth with a double. Schupp, a catcher, came off the bench and produced two key hits in the No. 9 spot, in addition to playing well behind the plate.
"Every time that we put someone in that doesn't play every game, they find a way to produce," Rashid said. "That's kind of how we've been playing."
On Thursday at 1 p.m., the sixth-seeded Red Devils (13-23) will take on top-seeded Webster (28-12) to kick off the double-elimination rounds at Car Shield Field in O'Fallon, Missouri. The Gorloks are vying for their fifth straight SLIAC Tournament championship and have hoisted the SLIAC regular-season crown 16 straight years.
"That will be quite a challenge," Rashid said, "but this is the first time we've been in the final four since 2010, and it's very cool for our kids."
It's also cathartic for the returners who couldn't get over the hump in last year's SLIAC Tournament appearance at Spalding. Garard threw one of his best games and the Red Devils were tied 1-1 through seven innings before falling in a 4-1 heartbreaker.
"It's always tough when you come up short, but that fuels the fire for the next time around," Garard said. "That torch has been lit, and we're going to be passing it around for the next couple of days."