As the team starts to get its gears going for the upcoming spring season, they have high expectations for this year’s team. Head Coach Jerry Rashid is “Cautiously optimistic, strengthening our pitching staff and depth, with field players and some catchers coming in. We have a good competitive group with likewise mindsets and goals in mind to hopefully climb in the standings and being a top 3 team” Coming off a season of 16-22 and 7-13 in conference play, with the recent SLIAC rankings came out, Eureka got listed at #6 of 8 teams in the conference. Brandt King has some thoughts as a transfer student “Coming in as a transfer and being put in a position where I can help the team at any cost means a lot. We have a good group of guys that play well together and look forward to making some noise this year”.

The team left the field last spring with a tough 4-1 loss against Spalding to end their 22’ season. Along with players returning after a bitter loss fueling their motivation this season, Eureka’s team has also transferred in over 10-15 players from surrounding cities, states, and some from across the country. Eureka’s baseball team has never had above a .500 record or placed in the top 3 of the conference, but many players have different thoughts about this year’s team and have new expectations that haven’t been talked about in Eureka’s baseball history. Senior Braden Cox weighs in on his opinion of what’s different about this year’s team and culture “Returning a lot of key players and adding depth to our competitiveness, really added to our team. Another thing is this team is the most meshed group I’ve been a part of and it’s just different this year, hoping to lead to our long-term success this year”. 

With the team’s first game coming up on March 1st against Knox College, they look to get off on the right foot with a win in their first game of the season. Look to get involved and check out a couple of games this season to support fellow students.