Two teams accustomed to playing in regional finals met at Phil Bradley Field Saturday as the top-seeded Eureka Hornets faced the host Macomb Bombers for an Illinois High School Association Class 2A Regional baseball title.
The Hornets stung the Bombers early and MHS never recovered as Eureka posted a 7-2 victory.
It was the ninth regional title in 12 years for Eureka, who improved to 31-4 on the season.
Macomb, playing in its fifth consecutive regional final, saw its season end with a final record of 19-15.
The Bombers started the season 0-8. But the team won 13 of its final 14 games before Saturday’s loss.
“You’ve got to hand it to Eureka, they pitched well,” said MHS coach Dustin Lambert. “And they hit the ball well. They started off hot. It was gap shots and those are hard to defend.”
The Hornets came off the bus swinging as a swarm, scoring five runs in the opening inning.
Ben Lapp opened the inning with a single to left before stealing second. Teagan McLaughlin followed with a line single to left, advancing Lapp to third.
Cohen Alstat grounded out to second, with Lapp scoring on the play and McLaughlin moving to third.
McLaughlin scored when Mason Stoller popped out to shortstop Drew Watson. Watson made the catch, but tumbled backwards landing on the ground, giving McLaughlin the opportunity to tag up from third base and score.
Andrew Zimmerman singled to center with two out and scored when Bomber right fielder Nick Elbe misplayed Isaac Schaefer’s fly ball for an error.
Tanner Wiegand doubled to left, scoring Schaefer, giving the Hornets a 4-0 lead.
Cooper Peterson and John Martin then followed with back-to-back singles, bringing home Wiegand to complete the opening inning outburst.
“We’ve talked about it all season long,” said Eureka coach Dane Wear. “With this team, it’s a different offense. You blink and we can put up some runs in a hurry.”
“But I keep telling the guys ‘The postseason is not like this,’” he added. “Of course, they’re trying to prove me wrong.”
After managing just one hit in the initial three innings, the Bombers threatened in the top of the fourth.
Watson opened the frame with a single to left before Emmett Beck walked on four pitches. Elbe followed with a single to right that loaded the bases with nobody out.
Langdon Lambert grounded sharply back to Alstat on the mound. The lacing in the webbing of his glove broke, but he was able to recover and throw home to Martin in recording the force out.
Alstat then struck out Kaden Knupp before retiring Jake Ogle on a groundout back to the mound to end the inning.
“We just couldn’t produce the base hits when runners were in scoring position,” said Coach Lambert.
“They’d been coming up with that big hit as of late,” Wear said of Macomb. “We just made a couple of really nice pitches and got out of it. That was huge.”
Meanwhile, Bomber pitcher Blaine Eddington kept the Hornets off the scoreboard until the bottom of the fifth.
Zimmerman singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. He scored when Schaefer reached on an error by Langdon Lambert at third.
Schaefer moved to third on the play and scored on a base hit to left by Wiegand, upping the Eureka lead to 7-0.
“Macomb did a fantastic job of settling in and keeping us off bases,” said Wear of the middle innings. “They did a nice job of keeping us right there.”
The Bombers got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth, scoring twice.
Watson and Beck opened the inning with back-to-back doubles, leading to Macomb’s first run.
One out later, Langdon Lambert singled to right, scoring Beck, closing the gap to 7-2.
Wear brought in Parker Roberts who got the final out in the sixth.
In the seventh, Jaxon Barclay walked before Drew Taylor singled with one out.
But Roberts got Watson to fly out to left and Beck to fly out to right to end the game.
“His pitch selection really worked well,” said Wear of Roberts. “He did a nice job of closing it out.”
“That’s the way we play baseball,” said Coach Lambert. “We’re in it 100 percent of the time until the game’s over with the last pitch. We’re going to battle every pitch that we see.”
Watson had two hits and a run scored, while Beck and Langdon Lambert each had one hit and one run batted in for Macomb. Beck also scored a run.
Eddington allowed seven runs, just two earned, on 11 hits in 4.1 innings. He struck out two and walked two.
Barclay pitched the final 1.2 innings, striking out one and walking two.
Wiegand had three hits and two RBIs, while Zimmerman also had three hits, scoring twice for Eureka. Lapp added two hits and Schaefer two runs scored for the Hornets.
Alstat pitched 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits. He struck out six and walked one.
Roberts pitched the final 1.1 innings, allowing one hit and one walk with one strikeout.
Eureka advances to sectional play at Chillicothe on Wednesday.
The Hornets will face Sherrard (19-8) in the 4 p.m. contest before host Illinois Valley Central (23-10) plays Peoria Notre Dame (1617) in the second contest at 6:30 p.m.
The winners will play for the sectional title May 31 at 1 p.m.
As for the Bombers, Langdon Lambert and Jack Beal graduate, but the remainder of the squad is set to return for next season, including a number of players that will be three-year varsity players.
“We’ve got to be ready to start again next year,” said Coach Lambert. “The boys will be ready.”
“We’ll have some good seniors ready to go,” he added. “We’ll be senior-strong next year.”
MHS Pitcher Blaine Eddington
Jaxon Barclay on the mound.
