Galesburg, IL – Eureka College continued a long winning streak with two non-conference victories against the Prairie Fire on Wednesday.

Eureka jumped out to a big lead and defeated Knox 15-7 in the first contest before completing the sweep with a 6-0 win in the finale of the doubleheader. 

The Red Devils boosted their winning streak to 10 straight games.

Eureka (18-11) scored three runs in the first inning of the opener.  The Prairie Fire responded with a run in the bottom of the second on an RBI double by junior Anna Lemen (Cincinnati, OH, Cincinnati Country Day) to cut the deficit to 3-1.

The Red Devils increased their lead in the third inning to 5-1 on the first of three home runs in the game by Kelli Dunn, who drove in eight of her team’s 15 runs.

Knox fought back and scored twice in the bottom of the third on an infield error by Eureka to make the score 5-3.

The Red Devils came up big in the fourth inning with six runs for an 11-3 lead.  The Prairie Fire remained within striking distance after junior Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington) belted a three-run homer to center field, her fourth of the season, to pull within 11-6.

Knox, however, was unable to stop Eureka from scoring.  The Red Devils, who had 17 hits in the game, added a pair of runs in the fifth inning and two more in the seventh.

The Prairie Fire plated their seventh run of the game on a run scoring single by sophomore Kayla Behrens (Moline, IL, Moline).

Behrens had three hits and Eisha two for Knox.  Eisha (3-10) took the loss in the circle after allowing 11 runs, seven of them earned, 11 hits, one walk and struck out three in 3 1/3 innings pitched.

After collecting 11 hits in the first game, the Prairie Fire offense was quiet in the finale against Eureka hurler Jodi Rebholz.

Knox (6-21) was unable to generate an extra base hit against Rebholz, who gave up five singles, one walk and struck out six in the complete game shutout.

The Red Devils scored on a wild pitch in the first inning for a 1-0 lead.  Eureka didn’t score again off first-year Prairie Fire pitcher Karli Shields (Naperville, IL, Neuqua Valley) until the fifth inning.  The Red Devils added two runs to pull ahead 3-0.

Eureka scored the last three runs of the game in the top of the seventh inning.

Shields (2-7) suffered the loss despite tossing five effective innings.  She surrendered three runs, only one of them earned, six hits, and four walks while striking out five.

Eisha again led the offense with two hits.

The Prairie Fire try to build on a two game Midwest Conference South Division winning streak when Cornell College visits for a doubleheader on April 27.

The Rams (15-13, 6-5 MWC South) have also won two straight in league play.  The first game between Knox and Cornell is at 1:00 p.m.

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