Red Devils Notch Midweek Sweep at Edgewood
VERONA, Wis. – Kyle Cashdollar (Morton, Ill./Morton H.S.) fired a four-hitter in game two of Wednesday's doubleheader at Edgewood for the Eureka College baseball team's first complete-game shutout in more than four years and Evan Smith (Moline, Ill./Moline H.S./Sauk Valley) hit a two-run single to set the tone in the opener as the Red Devils swept the non-conference twin bill from the Eagles at Stampfl Field in Verona, Wis. Eureka won the opener in eight innings, 6-5, and blanked the Eagles in the nightcap, 5-0.
The victories marked Eureka's first doubleheader sweep since defeating Lincoln Christian twice at Henry Sand Field on May 1, 2016. It also marked the Red Devils' first sweep on the road since taking two from Principia on April 5, 2013. Furthermore, Wednesday's wins were Eureka's first non-league sweep on the road since winning a pair at Lincoln Christian on March 22, 2011.
Eureka's 6-5 win marked the first true road victory for new head coach Jerry Rashid.
Game 1: Eureka 6, Edgewood 5
Grant Mullin (Chicago, Ill./St. Rita) had two of the Red Devils' six hits and Smith drove in a pair to drive the Eureka offense. Kody Silverthorn (Eureka, Ill./Eureka H.S./Parkland) limited the hosts to two earned runs on 4.1 innings and Mason Diederich (Washington, Ill./Washington H.S.) pitched the final 3.2 innings to nab his second collegiate victory.
Eureka struck first with a four-run fourth inning. Three singles loaded the bases in front of Smith, who deposited a two-run single into left field to score Mullin and Ray Vogel (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone H.S.) for a 2-0 lead. Mike Redmond (Chicago, Ill./St. Rita) followed with an RBI infield single and Tyler Thulean (Chillicothe, Ill./Illinois Valley Central H.S.) pushed the lead to 4-0 with a run-scoring groundout.
The hosts cut their deficit in half with only one hit in the bottom of the same inning. Edgewood loaded the bases on a hit batsman, a single and a sacrifice bunt attempt in which the Red Devils failed to force out the lead runner. The Eagles ultimately got on the board when the Eureka infield misplayed a bases-loaded ground ball before a bases-loaded walk to Patrick Wardlaw made the score 4-2.
Edgewood inched within 4-3 on a sacrifice fly from Casey Willis in the fifth. The Eagles knotted the score at 4-4 one inning later thanks to Nick Cheaney's RBI single.
Both teams were retired in order in the seventh. Mullin started the eighth with a single up the middle and scored two batters later for a 5-4 lead when the Eagles failed to record an out on a sacrifice but attempt. Jake Carter (Carlinville, Ill./Carlinville H.S.) delivered more insurance with a sacrifice fly before the Eagles ended the damage.
Diederich worked around a hit batsman, a wild pitch and a dropped fly ball to close the door in the bottom of the eighth. With one out and the tying run at second, the Eureka closer forced Alex Fowler and Cheaney to ground out in consecutive plate appearances to end the game.
Game 2: Eureka 5, Edgewod 0
Cashdollar was dominant in his first collegiate start. He limited the Eagles to four hits, three of which were singles, and struck out six hitters without a walk. The complete-game shutout, Eureka's first since Bryan Meyer blanked MacMurray 2-0 on April 7, 2014, lowered Cashdollar's season ERA to 2.02, lowest among Eureka's usual stable of relievers. Cashdollar retired nine in a row at one point and 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.
Sean Green (Peoria, Ill./Limestone H.S./Robert Morris-Peoria) went 3-for-3 with two runs scored out of the leadoff spot. Six different Red Devils hit safely.
Eureka got all the offense it would need when Green hit a one-out double in the third inning, stole third base and eventually came home on Carter's sacrifice fly.
The Red Devils' lead swelled to 2-0 in the fifth when EC executed a double steal that allowed Thulean to steal home. The Red Devils later made the Eagles pay for back-to-back walks in the sixth inning when Ethan Gates (Batavia, Ill./Batavia H.S./Waubonsee) smacked a two-run single to center field.
Eureka got its final run of the day in the seventh when Green reached on an infield single and later came around to score on Carter's single through the right side.
Up Next
Eureka is scheduled to play a three-game St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference West Division series this weekend at Iowa Wesleyan. The series is set to begin Saturday at 1 p.m. in a doubleheader in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.