20-12. 20-13. 25-10. 20-15. 22-9.
No, those aren’t football scores. They are results of five losses of the Saint Louis University baseball team last season, and part of the reason that the pitching staff’s earned run average was a disastrous 9.06.
That was last year. This year’s corps of hurlers has improved. They’re solid and ready to make a run at a Conference USA championship.
With a new sense of confidence and a year of experience, the Billiken pitchers have turned things around from last year’s dismal performance.
“The pitching staff has done a great job for us,” said pitching coach Todd Whaley. “The starting pitching has been going deep into some ball games. Guys are stepping up big time for us.”
The pitching staff is one of the reasons the Billikens are 13-19 overall and 3-9 in Conference USA this season. It’s a completely different staff from last year, when the Bills were 19-39 overall and 5-22 in C-USA.
The staff has a ERA of 5.68. It has six complete games already, compared to eight last year. It has held opponents to a .288 batting average, compared to a .380 average a year ago. And it has three more wins than at this juncture last year.
Pitchers Dan Shouse and Ryan Warnecke point to the final 10 games of the last season for the team’s turnaround. During those games, the Bills went 6-4 with the pitching staff leading the way.
SLU pitchers yielded 6.4 runs per outing, guiding the team to the semifinals of the C-USA tournament.
“That carried over from last year,” said Shouse. “Everyone expected to do the same.”
The team has responded. Warnecke leads the Billikens with a 4.38 ERA while picking up two wins. Shouse has experienced some tough luck over the year, going 1-6. But he has a 5.40 ERA while logging the most innings.
Freshman Zach Placzek has performed well, posting a 4.63 ERA, while recording two wins and a nearly two-to-one strikeout-to- walk ratio. Sophomores Brad Wehrfritz and Wes Jaillet have also pitched well.
“This year we’re in a lot more games,” said Warnecke. He attributes that to the defense. Like the pitching staff, the defense has picked up and has proven that it’s ready to play.
Its stellar play has allowed the pitchers to just throw strikes, as they know that the guys behind them will get to most of the batted balls. “The defense has been huge,” Warnecke said.
As a result, a winning attitude has been established on the team.
“They believe in themselves a little bit and that they can win,” Whaley said. But he noted, “It’s a learning situation. We’ve got to learn how to win.”
The Billikens have struggled with closing games, at times, this season. SLU has gotten early leads on teams but has relinquished them. The Bills has a lead in each of the three games against Tulane, but lost each game.
They also had a lead against Southern Miss but lost it in the 10th inning. Tulane and Southern Miss are the two top squads in C-USA and perennial NCAA Tournament teams.
But the staff and coaches realize that good things are just around the corner for the staff and the team.
“We’re a win away here and there,” Shouse said. “Each game we’re a hit or two away from getting the game.”
“We’re one win away from turning things around,” Whaley said. “I’ve got a feeling they are just about to take off.”
And the staff isn’t content with just improving each game. It’s looking to get to the upper echelon of C-USA.
“I don’t like where we are sitting because we’re 13-19,” Whaley said. “I like that we’re improving. But we’ve got to take improvement to the next level.”
“We just got to get it done,” Warnecke said. “If it takes a shutout, then we’ll go out and throw a shutout.”
