Eureka rolls in its opener

The Eureka Post 177 Senior American Legion baseball team flexed its muscles during Thursday's opening round of the Zone 4 tournament.

Eureka, which won regular-season and tournament titles in the competitive District 10 that covers most of St. Louis County, thumped District 10 rival Creve Coeur Post 397 11-2 at Whitey Herzog Stadium in Jackson.

"We've been in the zone tournament three times, and we've been in the losers bracket the other two times, so this is definitely a good feeling," Eureka assistant coach Cam Phillips said.

Eureka (33-12) will play Festus at 2 p.m. in today's winners bracket final of the five-team, double-elimination event. Creve Coeur (22-13) will try to stay alive when it faces Dunklin County at 11 a.m. today.

While Eureka banged out 18 hits and led all the way Thursday after scoring a run in the top of the first inning, the victory was not as easy as it sounds.

Post 177 led just 2-1 after five innings, and it was only 5-2 entering the ninth before Eureka broke things wide open with a six-run explosion.

"They're a good team," Phillips said of Creve Coeur, which fell to 2-4 against Eureka this year. "It sucks we had to play them [in the first round]."

Leadoff batter Connor Pahl led Eureka's offense by going 5 for 6 with a double and two runs scored. He was retired in his first plate appearance before finishing the game with five straight hits.

Luke Schumacher, Tyler Jennings and J.J. Guenther all added three hits. Guenther drove in three runs.

Sean Murley contributed two hits and two RBIs.

That offense was more than enough for pitcher Mike Lydon-Larson, who went all nine innings. He allowed eight hits, struck out seven and walked two.

Brian Hillhouse and Noah Rosen each had two of Creve Coeur's eight hits.

Connor Kraus was the losing pitcher. He allowed five runs, four earned, and 11 hits in eight innings.