Home never looked so good.
The Saint Louis University baseball team comes home this weekend, limping after dropping four of their last five on the road.
Last night in Columbia, Mo., the Billikens were topped by the Missouri Tigers 11-4. The Bills succumbed to a steady Tiger offense that posted 15 hits.
The Bills offense was able to produce hits, they had eight, but runs were in short order on the evening. The majority of the Bills offense came in the third inning on a three-run blast by left fielder Corey Lawson. Lawson drove the Tiger pitch into the home bullpen beyond the left-field fence, his third home run and RBI 13, 14 and 15.
The Bills only other run came in the sixth on a solo shot from first baseman Ryan Murphy. For Murphy, it was his second home run and his 27th RBI. Once Murphy’s bomb landed, it was lights out for the Bills as they were unable to plate any more runs.
Kurt Evans and Lawson were the only Billikens to post multiple hit games as four of the Billikens nine hits came from the top two slots in the order.
On the mound for the Bills, Dave Guntorius got the start and took the loss, his first of the year. Guntorius went three innings and allowed five runs on five hits, all of which were earned.
Tuesday afternoon, the Billikens traveled to Bradley to take on the Braves at Vonachen Stadium. The Bills took home the victory 12-11 in what was one of the wildest games of the season.
The Billikens built an 11-1 lead in the fifth inning, but were unable to make it stand up. Three runs in the fifth and sixth combined with four in the seventh brought the Braves all the way back to even.
In the eighth, the Bills recaptured the lead for good on an RBI double by Murphy. Murphy drove in Evans, who had reached on a walk to lead off the inning. With the Bills back in the lead 12-11, coach Bob Hughes had to find someone in his bullpen that was able to get Brave hitters out.
It was senior reliever Grag Coles who came on to stop the Bills bleeding. Coles closed out the seventh and finished the game off allowing no runs on three hits. He struck out two in his three innings of work and picked up his first career victory.
The Bradley win ended a losing streak that had begun over the weekend in Texas as the Bills took on the TCU Horned Frogs.
TCU took it to the Bills in the three game series, outscoring the Billikens by a combined score of 31-1.
It was the first series of the year that the Billikens were utterly dominated by an opposing team.
Since the drubbing by the Horned Frogs, Hughes has tried to adjust his lineup and pitching staff to help improve the Bills’ offense and defense.
To try and stop the slew of errors that had recently plagued the Bills, Hughes has moved Lawson to left field and inserted Drew Eder at first base. This move has allowed Hughes to move Murphy to first base, which should help improve his .854 fielding percentage.
In recent games, Hughes has also juggled his lineup in an attempt to develop a more consistent offense. Hughes has moved Lawson, who was his cleanup hitter early on in the year, to the two hole because of his speed. Hughes has been much more aggressive with Lawson on the basepaths in recent weeks, trying to find a way to produce some offense.
Another change that Hughes has made is inserting Eder into either the three or four hole consistently. Eder has been the Bills most consistent hitter this year, posting a .361 average with a .461 on-base percentage.
The Billikens are back in action this weekend as conference foe Southern Mississippi comes to the Billiken Sports Center for a three-game series. The first game is Friday night at 7 p.m.
