By FRED KRONER
Defending Eastern Illinois Baseball League tournament champion Buckley will serve as the host for Sunday’s semifinal games in the 85-year-old league.
The Dutch Masters, who have a record 16 tournament titles, are the No. 2 seed and will play in the day’s finale.
Sunday’s action starts with a 1 p.m. first pitch between regular-season champion Royal and fourth-seeded El Paso. Royal won all six of its regular-season games.
Buckley will take on Paxton in Sunday’s 4 p.m. finale.
The winners will advance to the best-of-three championship series on Aug. 8-9.
The Aug. 8 game will start at 2 p.m. at the site of the lowest seed. On Aug. 9, the first game will start at 1 o’clock at the site of the highest seed. If necessary, a tie-breaking game would follow 30 minutes after the completion of the opener.
In 2019, Buckley topped Royal in the finals in a two-game tournament sweep.
