EUREKA, Illinois (WMBD) – Eureka Hornets baseball is one of the hottest teams in Central Illinois.
A high-scoring offense that’s plated 168 runs in the last three weeks combined with stellar work on the mound has them sitting undefeated in Heart of Illinois Conference play.
“A lot of good things going, senior pitcher Ben Jablonski said. “Pitching’s great. Obviously our offense we’ve been doing amazing putting up a ton of runs.”
One of their most dominant hitters is senior Austin Wiegand. He’s hit for plenty of power this year, including one stretch of four home runs in just six at-bats.
After the first couple, it’s always in the back of my mind, gotta hit another one,” Wiegand said. “I’m not saying every at bat has to be a home run but it was in the back of my mind.”
“He’s a very talented individual and he’s got a fantastic swing and when he’s locked in, he’s very dangerous. Every time he goes into the box, we all get excited about what he can do.“
Dane Wear, Eureka Head Coach
For Eureka pitching, Jablonski and Slater Wilcox have helped lead the way with an aggressive approach.
“Just throw strikes, it’s all you can do.,” Jablonski said. You got great defense behind you. Let them pick up your slack for you.”
“He knows we’ve got his back and we can just all work together as a team and have fun out there,” Wiegand added.
With the postseason less than a month away, Eureka is looking to their core group of leaders to keep them focused.
“Just keep doing what we’re doing,” said Jablonski. “Obviously we’ve got a lot of seniors so we need to lead and do what you can to keep staying hot.”
“Fantastic group of guys. We’re very blessed at Eureka to have good kids and they want to play baseball and they want to do the things they need to do to win.“
Dane Wear
