Blackburn Baseball suffered a difficult loss to Eureka on Saturday afternoon. The Beavers had been winning the game 1-0, until Eureka made a comeback in in the seventh inning. After tying the game in the eighth, the Beavers lost momentum in the tenth inning when Eureka took back the lead. The final score of the game ended up being 5-2.
Early on, it seemed as if the game was going to be a pitching duel. Ryne Hanslow was on the mound for Blackburn, while Nathan Garard was on the bump for Eureka. Neither pitcher gave up a run until the third inning. Adam Holm gave Blackburn the lead on a wild pitch, after he had tripled to get himself to third base.
Hanslow kept Eureka off the board until he was taken out of the game in the top of the seventh inning. Peyton Blackburn entered the game, but Eureka was able to generate enough offense off Blackburn to score two runs in the inning, giving them a 2-1 lead.
Adam Holm singled in the bottom of the eighth and then stole second base. After the second out was recorded, Andrew Garza popped up on the infield, but an error allowed Garza to reach second and Holm to score, tying the game at two.
Both teams were unable to take the lead in the ninth inning, but Eureka shut the Beavers down in the tenth inning.
After a groundout, Nick Rulevish singled to center field, followed by another single from Eureka. A comebacker from the next batter drilled Blackburn's Mitchell Binder on the mound, loading the bases. Braden Cox doubled to the left field corner following Binder's injury, which plated two runs for the Red Devils. Binder was forced to exit the game, and Mason Wyant entered the game to get the remaining out in the inning. Eureka managed to score another run before the third out was recorded, as Colin DeLaer hit a SAC fly. Eureka was winning 5-2 heading to the bottom of the tenth.
The Beavers couldn't generate any momentum for themselves at the plate in the bottom half of the inning and lost the game.
Mitchell Binder suffered the loss on the mound for the Beavers, while Nathan Garard took the win on the mound for Eureka.
Blackburn will host Eureka again tomorrow, April 23rd. Blackburn will be celebrating senior day prior to the game, which is set to begin at 1:00 PM.