Eureka Tops Principia in 12 Innings, Stays Undefeated in SLIAC Play
ELSAH, Ill. – The Eureka baseball team outlasted Principia in extra innings and earned a 9-7 victory on Saturday to stay perfect in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
The win clinched Eureka's first 6-0 start to SLIAC play in program history and kept the Red Devils at the top of the league standings.
Eureka (6-0 SLIAC) remains one of two teams in the league without a conference loss; Spalding (4-0) is the other.
The Red Devils followed it with an 11-6 non-conference victory to close the weekend series and improve to 13-7.
Game 1: Eureka 9, Principia 7 (12 inn.)
After chalking up walk-off win after walk-off win at home over the past two weeks, the Red Devils found themselves on the road and in a position where they could have easily ended up on the wrong end of one on Saturday.
Eureka pitcher Mike Dunne (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Lincoln Land) and the Red Devils defense prevented it from happening.
With the game tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the ninth, the home team put two on with two outs. Dunne ended the walk-off threat with a groundout.
Then, in the top of the 10th, Dunne helped his own cause with a go-ahead RBI single. The Panthers came back in the bottom half and tied the game at 7-7, but Dunne got a strikeout and caught a lineout to send it to another inning.
No one struck in the 11th inning, but the Red Devils broke through with a pair of runs on two hits and two errors to take a 9-7 lead in the top of the 12th.
Nick Cartmill (Burleson, Texas/Burleson/Bacone) started it off with a single to left field, Gabe Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington Community/Mount Mercy) reached on an error, and the two of them moved up a base on a sac bunt by Cole Tanner (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Knox).
Cartmill then stole home to tie it up and Dunne punched in the last run of the game with an RBI double to center field.
Dunne retired three of the last four batters to finish the job. He recorded the win after coming on in the bottom of the eighth and throwing five innings, allowing just one run on four hits and one walk and notching eight strikeouts.
He also went 4-for-7 at the plate with three RBI, including the final RBI double of the game. Peters went 4-for-6, while Chase Ulrich (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria/Illinois Central College) contributed a pair of hits as well. Eureka recorded 15 hits on the day and saw eight players record at least one. Eureka slugger Sam Buduris (Shorewood, Ill./Minooka Community/McKendree) produced his third triple of the season.
Starting pitcher Dominic Tenayuca (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Jacobs/Lincoln) conceded just one earned run on eight hits and one walk and had five strikeouts.
The Red Devils led for the first five innings, but the Panthers tallied three runs on three hits to tie it up at 4-4 in the sixth.
Eureka regained the lead with an unearned run in the seventh. Principia responded with a go-ahead two-run homer by Gavin Matchell in the bottom half.
Buduris drove in Tanner for another unearned run to make it 6-6 in the eighth inning.
Game 2: Eureka 11, Principia 6
The final game of the series was a non-conference contest.
Eureka pitcher Colton Yanish (LaSalle-Peru, Ill./LaSalle-Peru Township/Illinois Valley) recorded his second win of the season. He threw five innings and allowed four earned runs on five hits and four walks and notched five strikeouts.
The Red Devils stayed hot at the plate, tallying 11 hits and posting at least one run in every inning. The team also had 11 stolen bases.
Garrett Flaagan (Eagle, Colo./Eagle Valley/Williston State) went 2-for-4 with four stolen bases. Jackson Green (Terrell, Texas/Terrell/Bacone) also had two hits, including a two-run homer in the third inning. Joshua Frenden (New Port Richey, Fla /River Ridge/Philander Smith) and Nick Rulevish (Addieville, Ill./Okawville) each had two hits, while Cartmill contributed a double. Rulevish tallied a team-high three RBI.
Up Next
Eureka (13-7, 6-0 SLIAC) will continue SLIAC play with a 12 p.m. doubleheader at the Mississippi University for Women (12-7, 4-2 SLIAC) on Friday.