Wilmington’s run at return trip to state ends in 4-0 supersectional loss

GENESEO − Just three baseball teams that advanced to the Class 2A supersectionals last season made it back to the Elite Eight this season. Wilmington is one of those teams.

Coming off a third-place finish at state a year ago, the Wildcats had their hopes of a return trip to state dashed in Monday’s 2A Geneseo Supersectional against Eureka, falling 4-0 and having their second lengthy postseason run in a row come to an end.

As the team huddled on the field after the game, Wilmington coach Mike Bushnell said his team had nothing to hang their heads about.

“I said that they should be extremely proud of themselves,” he said. “It’s not easy to make it this far, and especially some of these guys doing it two years in a row. ... This wasn’t as an individual sport. This was always all about the team. They played for each other, they played for the name on their chest always. ... That’s all you can ask for.”

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Wilmington players gather in their final huddle of the season as the sun sets following the Wildcats' 4-0 loss to Eureka in the IHSA Class 2A Geneseo Super-Sectional on Monday, June 2, 2025. (Tiffany Blanchette)

The Wildcats (24-9) managed to reach base often against Eureka’s Cohen Alstat, collecting six hits and four walks. They had at least one runner reach base in every inning except the fifth and had multiple runners on base in the first, fourth and seventh innings.

In the seventh, Declan Moran led off with a flyout a few steps shy of the fence in center field. After a Brysen Meents single and Shawn James walk, Lucas Rink hit a ringing line drive to center but directly at Eureka’s Ben Lapp.

Ryan Kettman came up next and hit a sinking liner to left field. But Eureka left fielder Adam Blunier made a diving catch, ending the game and likely robbing Wilmington of two runs.

“We were able to get runners on, and our balls just weren’t finding gaps,” Bushnell said. “That’s just baseball. I thought our guys gave us a chance.”

Kyle Farrell took the loss for the Wildcats. He pitched into the fifth, allowing five singles and four walks. Eureka scored two runs in the second and got a pair of runners on to start the fifth, after which Kettman came in to pitch.

One run scored on a sacrifice fly and another came home on an error, making it 4-0 in favor of the Hornets and closing the book on Farrell for the day. Kettman allowed two hits over his three innings of work.

Farrell is part of a four-player senior class along with James, Rink and Drew Jackson that managed to have a major impact on Wilmington’s postseason success the past two seasons.

After the Wildcats won state titles in 2003 and 2005 and won a regional title every year but one between 2003 and 2012, the program went through a 10-year stretch without a postseason title of any kind.

Bushnell credited this senior group for helping restore the program’s winning ways over the past two seasons with consecutive sectional championships.

“They’re every bit a part of building up the expectation for this program,” Bushnell said. “In the early 2000s that expectation was built to be a contender every year. We went a pretty long time without having that, and they brought that back.”

Sophomores Moran, Meents and Cooper Holman each had hits for Wilmington on Monday. Kettman, a junior, also had a hit, as did seniors Rink and James.

With eight juniors and three sophomores on this year’s team, Wilmington will bring a large number of returners into next season, now with even more playoff experience under their belts as they kook to keep the program’s winning ways going into the future.

“Those guys have got to step up and take on that leadership role,” Bushnell said. “Having this experience and going this far in the playoffs, for those three sophomores that were brought up this year and the second time through for players like [Zach] Ohlund, [Dierks] Geiss and Kettman, they know exactly what needs to be done. They know how to win, and it’s their turn to lead.”