Warren Moon showed up at the Billiken baseball game Tuesday afternoon. Well, maybe not, but he might as well have. The Billikens scored 21 runs and looked more like the Houston Oilers of the mid-’90s than a baseball team.
Billiken runners circled the basepaths like receivers streaking down the field as the Bills crushed Harris-Stowe 21-3. The Billiken offense, which had been struggling, lit up the scoreboard like a pinball machine while tallying 21 hits. Six hitters had multi-hit games as the Bills tied the school record for runs in a game and runs in a single inning.
The fourth inning went on longer than Cuba Gooding, Jr. at the Oscars. The inning took about half an hour and certainly wasn’t sped up by the Harris-Stowe defense. Harris-Stowe should have been out of the inning after only giving up two or three runs; however, horrible defense allowed the Billiken’s fourth to continue on and on and on.
The onslaught was led by the second home run of the year by freshamn outfielder Jon Guyre. Guyre took a fastball, turned it around just as quick as it came and deposited it in the grass beyond the left field fence. Shortly thereafter second baseman Jake Friedrich slashed a double past the third base
bag to plate a few more Billiken runs.
From there, the Billikens got an opposite field double from right fielder Steve Moss and scattered a few more hits en route to their 11-run inning.
On the other side of the ball, senior hurler Zach Placzek took the mound and picked up his first victory of the year. Placzek looked sharp early, and only surrendered one run in five innings of work.
While Placzek only recorded two strikeouts in his stint, he remained effective. He induced an inning-ending four-six-three double play and kept shortstop Pat Steinhoff on his toes all game. Placzek’s pitches had good downward movement and caused the Harris-Stowe hitters to continually pound the ball into the ground.
The weekend, however, wasn’t quite as kind to the Billikens, as the Southern Miss Golden Eagles outscored the Billikens 33-7 in the opening C-USA weekend series. The Bills dropped the first game to the Golden Eagles 13-1 as Southern Miss posted 18 hits in the game. Billiken starter Corey Lawson suffered the loss and gave up nine runs, eight of which were earned, in 5 and 1/3 innings of work.
Saturday’s game didn’t treat the Billikens much better, as the Golden Eagles shutout Saint Louis 11-0. The Bills sent Ben Hutton to the hill, and he was moderately effective giving up six runs, but only two were earned. The offense only posted five hits, and the only Billiken to have a multi-hit game was Kyle Wort.
Senior southpaw Jake Baumgartner got the start in the Sunday afternoon game and was looking to pick up his third victory in as many starts. Baumgartner was hit hard as he gave up all nine runs in 6 and 1/3 innings of work. Only five of Southern Miss’s runs were earned, and Baumgartner didn’t help his own, cause as he had two of the Billikens three errors.
The Billiken offense showed signs of life as they posted nine hits in the game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as the Bills succumbed to the sweep, losing the final game of the series 9-6.
The Billikens were scheduled to play UT-Martin yesterday afternoon, but the game was postponed due to inclement weather.
The Billikens will return to action on Friday, March 21, at 7 p.m. when they host Conference USA rival TCU in their first home conference series this year.
