May 12, 2008

River Forest, IL - Dominican University's Mike Eifel (Midlothian, IL) returned to the mound at Alexian Field in Schaumburg today, making his debut as a professional baseball player with the Southern Illinois Miners, an independent team in the Frontier League, as the Miners played the Schaumburg Flyers in an exhibition game before the Flyers open the 2008 season later this week. Eifel, a 6'4" right-hand pitcher, signed a one-day contract with the Miners giving Major League Baseball scouts a chance to see how the Dominican University graduate would fair against professional hitters.

Originally scheduled to throw just one inning out of the bullpen for Miners' manager Mike Pinto, Eifel threw a scoreless third inning and then returned to the hill for the fourth inning. In that inning with the score tied at 1-1, Eifel surrendered three runs and took the loss for the Miners as the pitcher of record in a 6-3 loss.

In four seasons with the Dominican University baseball program, Eifel compiled an 11-10 record with a 3.54 earned run average. After spending the majority of his freshman season as a catcher and designated hitter, Eifel went on to record 159 career strikeouts, posting a career-high 66 strikeouts in 2008.