EUREKA, Illinois—The Knox Prairie Fire baseball team fell on the road to the Eureka College Red Devils by a final score of 5-2 this Wednesday in their season debut. Despite a barrage of extra-base hits, Knox's fielding woes provided the edge necessary for Eureka to win.

The scoring started in the second inning, when a Knox error allowed Eureka to score. The Prairie Fire had a bullpen game today, with no pitcher lasting longer than two innings. Their starter, Andrew Ponce, had four strikeouts in two innings while only allowing one unearned run. Knox got that run back in the top of the fifth, as Charlie Gibbons hit one of Knox's three doubles on the day to drive in the tying run. On the day, the Prairie Fire managed six hits and three doubles while drawing four walks.

The sixth inning is where Eureka began to build its lead. Using their speed on the basepaths, they managed to get in scoring position, where a bunt single drove in the Red Devil's second run. Eureka managed to steal seven bases on the day, which made it very tough on Knox's pitching staff, as they constantly had runners in scoring position as they pitched. The following batter singled again, increasing Eureka's lead to 3-1. Some more poor fielding and stolen bases in the bottom of the seventh led to the Red Devils scoring an additional two runs. A sacrifice fly by Matthew Shover provided some consolation, but the Prairie Fire could not close the gap. 

"I thought we played pretty well overall today," said associate head coach James Clark. "We had a few tough bounces not go our way, but we will learn from our mistakes and move on."

Knox looks to get their first win this Saturday when they play both St. Norbert and Loras in Decatur at 1:00 and 4:00 p.m., respectively.