On April 7, Craig Ringe stood in the box with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, his Wildcats trailing Lafayette 1-0. He ripped a two-run double to win it.

That walk-off set the tone for Eureka's spring. The Wildcats are now 18-6 after beating Marquette 5-2 at home Tuesday, and they'll host the Class 6 District 2 tournament later in May with one of the area's hottest lineups.

Ringe, a senior third baseman who signed with Saint Louis University, has been the engine. Head coach Ken Droege called him "aggressive" in a recent interview with the Leader, and the numbers show it. Eureka is averaging six runs per game this season.

The pitching has matched the bats. Droege told the Leader he considers John Haberkorn and Ben Lackey "ground ball guys," and the results back up the staff. Opponents are scoring just 2.4 runs per game. That combination carried Eureka through an 11-0 rout of De Smet Jesuit, an 11-1 win over Parkway West, and a 16-0 blowout of Battle on April 18.

The only stumble since early April: a 4-3 extra-inning loss to Francis Howell.

Lafayette split the season series with Eureka, taking the April 8 rematch 5-4 in Ellisville. Both teams sit in Class 6 District 2, so they could meet again when the tournament bracket drops. Eureka hosts.

Eureka traveled to Marquette on Wednesday for the second game of the series. The next home date is May 4 against Parkway Central.

"I'll be leaving a lot of these guys I've been around my whole life," Ringe said of his final weeks as a Wildcat. He has fewer than two weeks of classes before graduation.