“This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”
–Nuke Laloosh, Bull Durham
Well, it rained, and rained and rained …
After having 10 games canceled due to inclement weather and postponing two more, the Saint Louis University Billiken baseball team played their first four games of the season last week.
The Bills were originally scheduled to open the season Feb. 14 at Austin Peay, but they had to wait until Feb. 28 and travel all the way to Memphis to get on the field. In a makeshift tournament, the Billikens traveled to the campus of Southwestern Tennessee Community College and took on the Purple Aces of Evansville.
The Billikens sent senior southpaw Jake Baumgartner to the hill to try and start the 2003 season off on the right foot. The much-improved Baumgartner did not waste any time making his pitch for a conference starter position in the rotation. He toed the rubber and tossed one-hit ball in seven innings of work. Behind Baumgartner’s superb pitching performance, the Billikens topped Evansville 5-2.
Baumgartner put up Glavine-esque numbers, only needing 82 pitches to retire the minimum number of hitters in his seven innings of work. He struck out six, did not surrender a walk or hit-batsman and induced a double-play to keep the Purple Aces at bay.
In their second game of the season the Billikens sent fifth-year senior Ben Hutton to the mound to take on Northern Illinois. Hutton was making his first appearance since the 2001 campaign after having shoulder surgery that caused him to miss all of last year. Hutton struggled in the first and gave up three runs on three hits.
However, he settled down and didn’t allow the Huskies to plate another run in his next three innings. He showed glimpses of the past as five of the 12 outs he recorded were strikeouts. Hutton’s ability to get people out after early struggles is a good sign for the Bills who will need him to return to his All-Conference form of two years ago if they hope to have sustained success in Conference-USA action. Hutton’s success didn’t translate into a victory though, as the Bills fell 6-1.
In the third game of the year, the Bills sent staff ace Corey Lawson to the mound. Lawson picked up right where he left off last season, throwing a complete game, while giving up only two runs on five hits to Ball State. Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t muster anything of substance and merely scattered four hits over the course of nine innings. The Bills lack of offense cost them, as a two-run home run by Ball State third baseman Kiel Holman was enough to give the Cardinals a 2-0 victory.
Monday afternoon, the Billikens traveled to UT-Martin to take on the Skyhawks. The Billiken offense awakened and posted 12 hits and forced four Skyhawk errors, but it still wasn’t enough, as the Bills fell 6-5. Senior hurler Zach Placzek got the start for the Bills and yielded all six Skyhawk runs, five of which were earned.
Placzek struck out eight, but when UT-Martin got the bat on the ball, they were effective and tallied eight hits of the Billiken starter. In the end, the best offensive performance for the Bills this season wasn’t enough, as the Skyhawks held on late for the 6-5 victory.
The 1-3 Billikens will try to open their home season on Friday against Illinois-Chicago at 2 p.m. at the Billiken Sports Complex. Weather forecasts call for partly cloudy conditions and a high of 60 degrees.
