The Saint Louis University baseball team matched its longest winning streak of last season with its third win in a row.
The Bills (3-3) are riding a three-game winning streak after a weekend sweep of Chicago State.
The Billikens’ offense finally came to life and scored a total of 20 runs in the two games against the Cougars. The offensive explosion was led by senior designated hitter Mike Orrico. He went a combined 5-6 in the two games with 6 RBI and 3 runs scored.
For an offense that was stuck in neutral, back-to-back 10 hit games have finally dropped the Bills in gear. The team seems to have found a happy medium between offense and pitching, which they were unable to do all last year.
For Orrico, it had been a tumultuous road going back and forth between designated hitter and first base. Thus far this season, Orrico is settling in quite well into his role as the full-time DH.
Orrico said, “I am getting accustomed to it. If I had the option I would rather play in the field because I feel like I get more plugged into the game, but I am prepared to do what is best for the team.”
Orrico is hitting a robust .455 with a slugging percentage of .727. “I am seeing the ball very well and concentrating on keeping my weight back. I have gotten off to a good start, which in part probably carried over from the summer,” Orrico said.
Game one of the double-header was highlighted by a five-run sixth inning for the Bills. RBI doubles by Orrico, senior third baseman Brandon Shockley and senior shortstop Paul Miles drove in the five runs.
That gave the Bills a 9-6 lead heading into the seventh and final inning of the abridged double-header.
Junior reliever Brad Wehrfritz, who had come on in the fifth inning, only gave up one run and held on to pick up his first victory of the year. That 9-7 victory pushed the Bills up to 2-3.
In the second game of the double-header, the Bills were able to produce 11 runs on 10 hits. In addition to the 10 hits, the 10 walks given up by the Cougars helped the run production immensely.
It was a 2-2 tie in the fourth when sophomore shortstop Joe Boyer took the Cougar pitcher yard. It was Boyer’s first homerun of the season and only hit of the afternoon. The Bills added two more in the fifth, and that was enough for junior pitcher Wes Jaillet.
Jaillet struck out eight State hitters en route to his first victory of the year. After Jaillet departed, freshman pitcher Dave Guntorius came on to pick up his first career save.
The Bills seem to finally be bringing it all together and will try to continue to ride the winning streak through next week. The Bills are back in action on the weekend with a two-game series against IUPUI.
“Right now we are all pretty confident. After starting off 0-3 we have been building up confidence with every win to get back to 3-3,” Orrico said.
The Bills hope to continue their success as they finish up their 10-game homestand. After the homestand, the Bills hit the road for their annual spring break road trip before heading to UAB for the conference series opener.
“Right now, we are looking to bring it all together before we head into conference. We want to have as much confidence as possible when we head to UAB,” said Orrico.
