Red Devils Split with Knox in Home-Opening Series
EUREKA – Eureka's Kloey Wheeler (Farmington, Ill./Farmington Central/Heartland) threw seven shut-out innings to lead the Red Devils to a 3-0 win over Knox in the first career pitching appearance at Sweitzer Field on Wednesday.
Wheeler, a junior outfielder, stepped into the circle in Game 2 of the Red Devils' doubleheader and held the Prairie Fire scoreless on seven hits and two walks and had three strikeouts.
The Red Devils scored their first two runs of the game in the third inning.
Tressa Grisham (Morton, Ill./East Peoria) led off with a single to center field and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Macey Whisker (Washington, Ill./Washington) to third on a groundout by Klaire Morris (Laurel, Montana/Billings Skyview/Williston State).
Then, Delaney Douglas (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) doubled to left field to put the home team on the board, and KayLee Hohlbauch (Arcola, Ill./Arcola/Lincoln) singled to center to make it 2-0.
Two innings later, Lexi Liptak (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) singled to center to score Gada Bryant (Westville, Ill./Westville/Lincoln), who pinch ran for Douglas after she reached on an error, and moved to second on a sac bunt by Hohlbauch.
Eureka finished with 10 hits at the plate. Liptak, Grisham and Christine Mepham (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) all recorded a pair of hits for the Red Devils. Mepham and Douglas both had a double. Wheeler and Bria Wessel (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) each had a hit as well.
After a rocky opener defensively, the Red Devils didn't commit a single error in the win.
Game 1: Knox 8, Eureka 6
Eureka held a 2-1 edge after four innings, but the Prairie Fire took over with a three-run fifth and managed to hold on the rest of the way.
Knox scored another run in the sixth to make it a three-run game. Eureka came back with two in the bottom half off an RBI groundout by Angie Valenzuela (Turlock, Calif./Turlock) and a passed ball that allowed Farrah Michaels (Mansfield, Ill./Blue Ridge) to score. However, the Prairie Fire tallied three more off three hits in the seventh to make it 8-4.
The Red Devils managed to get two back in the bottom of the seventh before the inning ended with a groundout.
Wessel went 2-for-3 and drove in a run. Liptak went 2-for-4 with a double, Hohlbauch had a double and Whisker and Bryant each had singles to give the Red Devils seven runs.
Claire Wuethrich (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Christian) took the loss despite only allowing one earned run on six hits and two walks and notching a pair of strikeouts.
Up Next
Wednesday's doubleheader kicked off a six-game home stand for the Red Devils. Eureka (2-11) will next host Illinois College (4-10) in a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday at Sweitzer Field.
