Eureka’s SLIAC Tournament Ends with 6-4 Loss to Westminster
O'FALLON, Mo. – The Eureka baseball team's 2023 campaign came to an end with a 6-4 loss against Westminster in a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament elimination game on Friday.
After earning their first SLIAC Tournament win in program history with a 6-0 shutout over Fontbonne on Tuesday and falling 20-1 against top-seeded Webster on Thursday, the Red Devils came up just short of keeping their season alive at CarShield Field.
Trailing 6-3 in the eighth inning, senior pitcher/outfielder Nathan Garard (Gibson City, Ill./Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley) belted a solo home run to make it a two-run game. It was his second homer of the season and the third of his career.
With reliever Dominic Tenayuca (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Jacobs/Lincoln) on the mound in the eighth, the Red Devils kept Westminster from adding to the lead, turning a double play and getting a groundout to get out of the inning.
In the bottom half, the maroon and gold drew back-to-back walks to put the winning run at the plate with two outs. With Mike Dunne (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Lincoln Land) and Braden Cox (Washington, Ill./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk) on first and second, Garard came back to the plate and cracked one to left-center, but this time, the center fielder was able to run it down and end the game.
Sixth-seeded Eureka got off to a good start on Friday, plating the first two runs of the game.
Nick Rulevish (Addieville, Ill./Okawville) singled to right field to score Cole Tanner (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Knox) in the first inning. Then, in the second, Tanner drove in the team's second run on a fielder's choice RBI that scored Cox.
However, Westminster came back with three runs off three hits and an EC error. Matt Lukins drove in an unearned run and Steven Diaz delivered the go-ahead two-run double after that.
Diaz led off the fifth inning with a solo shot, and the Blue Jays drove in another run to make it 5-2. An inning later, Diaz, who hit for the cycle on Friday, plated their sixth and final run with an RBI triple.
Dunne notched an RBI groundout in the seventh to cut the lead to four, paving the way for Garard's bomb in the eighth.
Eureka finished with four runs on seven hits and seven walks. The first two came off Westminster starter Trent Morrow, who pitched the first five innings. After that, the Blue Jays used a pitcher per inning the rest of the way.
Eureka's starting pitcher, Dunne, conceded five earned runs on seven hits and three walks and struck out three in 5 2/3 innings. Tenayuca threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief.
Rulevish went 2-for-4 at the plate on the day, and Garard went 2-for-5 in his final collegiate performance.
Tanner, Austin Davis (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) and Demetrius Schupp (La Salle, Ill./St. Bede Academy/Illinois Valley) each had a hit as well.
Friday was the end of the road for seven Eureka seniors who have made significant contributions to the program in their time in maroon and gold, including Garard, Cox, Davis, Schupp, Brenden Eigenbrod (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln/Lincoln College), Tate Stone (Washington, Ill./Washington) and Parker Brodine (Brimfield, Ill./Elmwood-Brimfield).
The 2023 Red Devils complete the season with a 13-25 overall record and a 9-12 mark in SLIAC play, but it will be remembered for its strong finish and historic accomplishment.
This Eureka squad closed the regular season by winning six of its last eight games, made program history while handing the Griffins their only shutout loss of the season, and it ended the year in the conference's final four for the first time since 2010.