Eureka Drop Two High-Scoring Games Against Lyon, 16-6, 17-11
EUREKA – The Eureka baseball team dropped a pair of St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games against a hard-hitting Lyon team at Henry Sand Field on Saturday.
The Red Devils fell 16-6 in seven innings in the first game of the weekend series and the Fighting Scots took Game 2, 17-11, in a slugfest that featured 39 hits between the two teams.
Game 1: Lyon 16, Eureka 6
In the Red Devils' first-ever matchup with Lyon, the Fighting Scots made quite the impression, tallying 16 runs on 18 hits.
It was a back-and-forth affair for the first few innings, though.
Lyon opened with four runs in the top of the first inning. Eureka got on the board with two runs on a pair of hits in the second, then the Fighting Scots added three more in the third to make it 7-2.
The Red Devils' most productive inning came in the bottom half, when they tallied four runs on two hits.
Gabe Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington/Mount Mercy) drew a leadoff walk and Cole Tanner (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Knox) doubled to drive him home. After another walk and a fielder's choice, Sam Buduris (Shorewood, Ill./Minooka/McKendree) belted a three-run bomb to left-center. His sixth home run of the season made it a one-run game, but that ended up being as close as the Red Devils would come.
Lyon pulled away with a run in the fourth and fifth, five runs in the sixth and two runs in the seventh to invoke the run rule.
Eureka finished with six runs on eight hits. Buduris went 2-for-3 with the homer and Jackson Green (Terrell, Texas/Terrell/Bacone) went 2-for-3 with an RBI double in the second inning.
Game 2: Lyon 17, Eureka 11
After the bats went quiet in the latter innings of Game 1, Eureka got off to a solid start in Game 2. The Red Devils posted five runs on six hits and one error in the first inning to take a 5-2 lead.
Two innings later, the frame scored were reversed and the game was tied at 7-7 as Lyon notched five runs in the top half and Eureka followed with a pair on a two-run home run by Joshua Frenden (New Port Richey, Fla./River Ridge / Philander Smith) in the bottom.
In the fifth, the Red Devils nearly matched the Fighting Scots again. After a four-run top half, EC tallied four hits and took advantage of a pair of errors to plate three more runs.
The home team would only plate one more run after that point, though, while Lyon kept adding more.
Buduris and Peters both went 3-for-5 at the plate, with Peters driving in three and Buduris recording one RBI.
David Hidden (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria), batting lefty, notched a double and a single, and Garrett Flaagan (Eagle, Colo./Eagle Valley/Williston State) and Brandt King (Rockford, Ill./Stillman Valley/Ripon) each had two hits as well.
Eureka finished with 11 runs on 18 hits to Lyon's 17 on 21.
Up Next
Eureka (13-114, 6-6 SLIAC) will look to finish the three-game series strong on Sunday with a home non-conference contest against the Fighting Scots at 12 p.m. (11-15, 7-3 SLIAC).